A Lost Treasure: An adventure begins
by Gilraen Iathrim
Summary: Clara gets thrown right into the madness of an adventure, something that both makes her exited and scared. As she tags along with thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard, she experiences something she never thought would be possible. Let's now take back Erebor! (Based on both the book & the movie. Slight Kili/OC. Rated T to be safe)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Far away, further than most people have travelled, lays the Lonely Mountain. A mountain, looking out over the plains bellow. Always watching, always waiting.

The mountain was home for the descendants of Durin. The dwarves mined the mountain, finding piles of gold and glittering stones. They never feared, they never begged. They lived a life in peace and happiness. Until the day when everything was lost.

The dragon Smaug came, with a breath of fire and a terrifying roar. He wanted the gold and jewels all for himself and he did not care for the sorrow and despair he created.

He killed the small city of Dale and its merry bells, making the humans living there flee from everything they had ever known, and then killed all dwarves in his path.

Smaug did not care for the people, he only cared for himself and his gold. He wanted the mountain for himself and there was no other way to it.

The king, Thrór, fled with his son Thráin and grandson Thorin, and the people of Durin. They had nothing left in the world and therefore they set of to find a new place to live at. Their mountain was lost to the dragon and they knew that.

With their hearts breaking for the people they had lost, the dwarves got up and tried to forget their lost gold. They managed for a long time. Until now.

_Author's note: So, this is the prologue of my new story! It's slightly inspired by the story Unexpected Additions by DizzyDisneyDayDream, with the way Clara reaches Middle Earth and such, and I got the idea for writing this when I read hers, so if you haven't checked it out yet, then do :) The first real part will be up in a short while, so that you will get more involved. The next parts after that will be longer than this, so don't you worry about that. Also, please leave a review if you liked it :)_


	2. Forest falling

**Forest falling**

The only sound that was heard, was her own footsteps and the chirping of birds above her head. The forest was completely silent, which was the reason to why she used it for her daily run. She did not like the hardness of the pavement or the sounds from all the cars. She preferred the calmness of the forest and the softness of the dirt beneath her feet.

Clara had never really liked big cities, which was why she had decided to live as far from them as she could. She still studied and worked in Dublin, but she had chosen a house that was almost two hours away from the big city. Maybe not the smartest choice when it came to travelling and getting up in the morning, but she did not really mind that much. As long as she had her forest and nature, she was happy.

The sudden gust of wind that went through the trees, made her shiver and she slowed down to be able to look up. The earlier blue sky had suddenly turned grey and she could hear thunder echoing in the hills.

Clara frowned and put her hands on her hips. Just her luck. They had said on the news that the day was supposed to be sunny and warm, without any rain or clouds.

"Lies", she mumbled to herself as she picked up speed again to avoid the rain. She was only dressed in a t-shirt and running shorts, which meant that she would probably freeze to death if she got trapped in the forest due to a storm.

As the sound of thunder was heard even closer, she started running and cursing herself for not paying closer attention to the weather forecast. She hated thunderstorms and in that moment, she did not care for her love for nature. She just wanted to be home in her warm little house, far away from the cold forest and the dark sky.

The thoughts of her home, made her pick up speed once more, but she did not keep the look out. The path was filled with roots and small stones and before long, her foot caught in one of the roots and she fell forward, her head hitting something hard.

She tried to rise, but black spots started to dance before her eyes. In the matter of seconds, she had passed out.

_Author's note: Well, first real part. Hope you liked it! :)_


	3. An addition

**An addition **

When Clara woke again, it was by someone softly pushing her. At first, she thought it was just something she imagined in her dreams, but when the pushing became more violent and voices started to seep into her dreams, she realised that she was about to wake up.

"Maybe she is dead?", said one voice shyly.

"Oh, you idiot. Can't you see that she is breathing?" The next voice was grumpier than the first.

"Dori, Ori, hush. She's awaking." The third voice was powerful and demanding and she guessed that this must be some kind of leader.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to quickly blink a few times, due to the sharp sunlight. It took a few seconds for her eyes to focus and when they did, she found herself surrounded by a group of men. They were standing in a circle around her, looking at her with concern in their faces.

"Are you all right, miss?" The man that looked like one of the oldest in the group, with white beard and hair, looked at her with a small smile on his lips.

"I think so", she mumbled, slowly sitting up. The men quickly took a step backwards to give her some space and she noticed that they were all wearing different kinds of weapons. Axes, bows, swords and knives could be seen in every direction, something that confused her.

"Are you sure? You have had quite a nasty blow to the head." The same voice that had spoken first earlier, was heard and she turned her head to look at the man. He seemed to be the youngest in the company, even though he had just as much of a beard like everyone else. Cause that was the thing with them all. All of them had different types of complicated beards. All except one, that also looked quite young.

"Now that you mention it – I do actually have a bit of a headache." She rose her hand to her head, stroking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I am so sorry for bothering you miss, but do you remember anything? Were you attacked?" The old man frowned, concerned, and waved to the others to dismiss, which they did. Only the man with barely any beard that she had noticed before and one that looked like his father, stayed behind.

"I cannot say I do", she shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry." This was true. She remembered a sharp pain in her forehead and then nothing more. Not until she had woken up here, surrounded by men with weird beards.

"There is nothing to apologize for." The third man, that was wearing a beautiful cloak, frowned and stretched his hand out to help her up on her feet. "My name is Thorin. Thorin Oakenshield. This is my nephew, Kili and my dear friend Balin." He nodded towards the two other men, that bowed and mumbled a quick "At your service", in unison.

"I'm Clara. Clara Walsh." She bit her lip and quickly brushed some pine needles and dirt of herself. She was wearing her running clothes, which meant that she probably had been out running. But how she had ended up passing out in a forest she had never seen before, she did not know. "If you don't mind me asking", Clara begun, taking a short break to gather her thoughts. "Where am I and what are you?" She guessed that they could not be human, due to their odd clothes and the fact that all of them were only a few inches longer than herself. She was usually quite short and they were almost just as short as her.

"This is Middle Earth, near the Shire. We are dwarves, miss. And I see that you are an unusually short human." The man without any random beard and that had been named Kili, smiled knowingly.

"Kili, there is no need to act like that", Thorin growled, causing his nephew to blush.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not offended, if that is what you think." Clara smiled towards Kili, that seemed to cheer up, while Thorin only murmured something to himself and moved over to the other dwarves, that was standing over by a group of ponies.

"So, where are you from? If it is anywhere near here, we can take you there before we set of on our own journey." Balin stroke his beard and looked at her with kind eyes.

"I... um... I don't remember." Clara frowned, trying to find any clue in her mind, something that she did not succeeded with. She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Well, this will not do. I believe you will have to join us to the Shire and we will see if we find something out there." Balin smiled and waved towards her. "Come with me and we will get you sorted. I do believe that we will have to find you some knew clothes as soon as we reach Bywater." He started walking towards the other dwarves, followed by Clara and Kili.

"There is no need for that. Please, do not go through any trouble for me." She felt a bit embarrassed, due to both her clothes, that looked odd in the eyes of the dwarves, and the fact that they were so nice to someone they did not know. Someone that only remembered her name and nothing more. It both surprised her and made her glad she had met just these people and not someone else that would just have left her out in the forest to starve to death all alone.

"You can ride with me." Kili smiled towards her, apparently trying to make up for his earlier mistake, and she smiled back.

"Thank you."

The dwarves spoke quietly to one another, as Balin sent the message about Clara joining them, and then everyone quickly got on the back of their ponies, Clara last behind Kili.

Thorin rode in the front, followed by Balin and then the rest of the dwarves, that Clara did not yet know the name of. All on all, they were thirteen and she guessed that it was going to be hell to learn their names and remember who that was who. All their beards did not really help. It only made it more complicated.

"Clara, this is my brother, Fili." Kili interrupted her thoughts and she looked up, finding that another dwarf was riding next to them. He had red-blonde hair and beard and a few braids here and there. She could see a slight resemblance to Kili and would probably have understood that he was his brother without him mentioning it.

"Hello." She smiled towards Fili, who nodded back towards her.

"Miss." He nodded again, before turning towards his brother. They were soon caught in a conversation of their own, leaving Clara outside it.

She softly loosed her grip around Kili's waist, since she did not want to make him feel uncomfortable, and turned to look around her. The forest was slowly starting to end and a green landscape dotted with trees and rolling hills opened up before them.

Above, the sun shone from a blue sky and she saw small cottages and villages dotted here and there bellow them. It was beautiful.

_Author's note: So, the second part. A bit longer than the first :) The third part is almost ready too, but I will probably publish it sometime tomorrow or on Saturday. I'm currently on my spring-break, which is why I can publish new parts so frequently, but when I'm back in school on Monday, I will probably be more busy. So then I can't promise to update as often.  
Oh, and to the guest reviewer Clara: Oh gosh, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry. It was the first name that popped up in my head and that I thought suited for the character. I actually didn't even think of Doctor Who. Then it was more of a friend of mine than anything else. I'm sorry! If you prefer if I change her name, then I will :)_

_And to everyone else: Thank you for following and showing your support to the story! It means so, so, so much! Thank you so much! Please tell me what you think, either through a review or a PM :) _


	4. Lazy lunch

**Lazy lunch**

They rode for about an hour before they reached a small village and Thorin ordered them to stop. They got of their ponies and left them on a field to enjoy the green grass, as the dwarves headed over to a small inn named _The Green Dragon._ Here they sat down to get a quick lunch, something that Clara appreciated. She was starving.

The dwarves spoke and laughed as they stuffed themselves full. Clara kept herself in the background, knowing that she did not really belong with them. She was just an addition that they soon would get rid off. Where she was supposed to head then, she did not know. This scared her, but she kept her mouth shut about it. She did not want to sound like a complainer.

About an hour after lunch, when the majority of the dwarves was either smoking their pipes or polishing their weapons, something happened.

Clara had been sitting outside in the sunshine together with Balin and Ori, the younger dwarf that had been the one asking about her being dead, and listening to their conversation. They were telling her about the quest they were heading out on and that they had made a short detour to the Shire to get a burglar. According to Balin, to be thirteen in a group was unlucky and they therefore needed a fourteenth member.

"I believe that Thorin wants all the luck that he can get." Balin chuckled and nodded towards the leader, that was standing a few feet away, talking to his nephews.

"I can understand that", Clara said with a small smile. "So you are just waiting here for someone to show up, then?" She had been on her way of saying "we", but had stopped herself before that. She needed to remember that she was not a part of their group. Only a minor addition for a few hours.

"We are, yes. And I see that he is coming now." Balin made a small gesture towards the road, where the sound of hooves could be heard.

Down the road, an old men came riding. He was dressed all in grey, with a hat and a long beard. He was riding a horse instead of a pony and Clara guessed that he must be a human like her, since he was so tall.

"Ah, Gandalf!" Thorin smiled and stepped forward when the man got off his horse. "I am glad to see that you made it here safely."

"What else is there to expect from a wizard?" Gandalf chuckled and gave the horse over to Kili and Fili, that both smiled widely towards him. "Thank you, boys."

As he followed Thorin over to sit by a table, Clara noticed that he was leaning on a long, oddly looking staff. It was made straight from a branch from a tree and looked like it had been in the care of the man for a long time. It looked natural in his old hands and like it could not belong in any other place.

"Miss Walsh." The sudden mention of her name, made her jump and look up. Kili smiled down towards her where she sat and apparently he had been talking to her.

"Oh, um, sorry." She smiled quickly and then got up from her feet. She did not like when people was looking down on her like that.

"Balin asked me to take you to a small store and get you some other clothes. I hope you does not mind." He started walking and Clara followed slowly.

"No, not at all." She was a bit too stunned to protest. They did not really need to get her anything. They barely knew her and as she had already concluded; she was not even a part of their group.

"Good." Kili pressed his lips together and nodded slowly. "I mean, if you had minded, I would have been forced to take you there anyway, so there was not really much of a choice."

"You're right about that." She laughed and ran her fingers through her hair to keep it out of her face.

"If you do not mind me asking", he begun, looking at her quickly as they walked. "How is it not knowing anything about yourself? I mean, you cannot remember a thing. Ain't that a bit scary?"

This made her think for a moment, before she nodded.

"It is, yes. I mean, I cannot remember my family, my friends, my home... It is like I never existed here." She bit her lip and focused her gaze on the ground under her feet. She felt embarrassed. "I do not even know if Clara is my real name. It was the only name that popped up in my mind when I was going to introduce myself to your uncle."

"I am sure we will find out the truth before we are old and grey." Kili laughed and when she looked up, she found herself meeting his gaze. Had he just indicated what she thought he had indicated?

Brushing the thoughts off, not wanting to raise any hope, she broke away her gaze from his and returned it to the ground.

"I hope so", was all she replied with, before he announced that they had reached the store and the subject was changed.

About half an hour later, they stepped back out into the sunshine after spending some time in the small store.

Clara was now wearing a pair of brown breeches, a pair of comfy shoes, a light-grey shirt and a deep-blue coat. She was glad about not having to wear her running shoes any more and the clothes was actually really comfy. She did not mind wearing them at all, even though they were really made for a man and therefore a bit baggy on some spots.

She had also gotten herself a backpack, that was packed with an extra shirt, a scarf and a few other things that would be necessary for travelling. Not that she knew where to travel, but it was good to have with her, she guessed.

"Ah, that looks much better." Balin smiled towards her when they returned back to the other dwarves and she realised that he probably had thought that her old clothes had not been very suiting.

"I prefer this over the old ones, yes." She smiled back and put the backpack down on the ground as she sat down next to the old dwarf. "Thank you so much."

"There is nothing to thank us for, miss." Balin scratched his chin. "After all, Thorin has agreed on letting you tag along."

It took quite a while for her to understand what he had said. Was _she _going to go with them on their quest? She must have gotten it all wrong. They did not even know her the slightest.

"Are you serious?" She stared at the dwarf, that chuckled slightly.

"Do I look like I am joking?" He met her gaze. "Besides, we cannot simply leave you here alone. That would be a disgrace to our entire family. We cannot simply leave a fair maiden to fend for herself when she does not know anything about herself."

A bit offended by being called "fair maiden", Clara nodded slowly.

"Thank you so much. You are all very kind." She was still both offended and a bit shocked, which meant that she had a hard time getting any words out. She did not know what to say to show her gratitude to these people, showing her such kindness.

As Balin started a conversation with Kili, she rose from her place and brought her backpack along as she went over to Thorin and the old man she had seen before. She guessed that she probably should introduce herself.

"Hello there." The old man, Gandalf, looked at her under his bushy eyebrows, smiling friendly. "You must be Clara. Thorin has been telling me about you. Very unfortunate story you have there." He frowned and put his hand on her shoulder. "I wish there was something I could do to help, but I am only a simple wizard. I do not know of anything that can help restoring memories." His voice was sincere and she gave him a comforting smile.

"Don't worry about me. I will survive." She bit her lip and gave Thorin a quick glance. She had not yet heard anything from him about why he had decided to bring her along, but he did not speak. Instead he turned to Gandalf and cleared his throat.

"Right, I believe we need to get going. Clara, come with me." Gandalf quickly rose and clasped his staff in his hand.

"Where are we going?" Clara hung the backpack over her shoulder and frowned towards the wizard. She did not understand what he needed her for.

"To persuade a hobbit."

_Author's note: Hello again! Another part is up, today with the name Lazy lunch. I guess that you all have already started to realise that all my names for the parts will begin with the same letter. The next one for example is called "Hasty hobbits". Just something that I thought was fun. I will see if I will be able to keep to it throughout the entire story!  
I just want to take a moment and thank everyone who has yet read the story and that has favoured or followed it! It means the world to me that you like what I do! And the reviews always makes me really happy! So if you got the time, please tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!_


	5. Hasty hobbits

**Hasty hobbits**

Mr Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit that enjoyed his schedule. He did not like interruptions and he did not like being late. He also had a certain fondness for food, like the next hobbit.

Breakfasts was something he liked the most. He always had a nice one as soon as he got out of bed and also a second one if he had the time for it before lunch.

This particular day, he had just enjoyed a late second breakfast and was now sitting out in the lovely sunshine, smoking his pipe.

He had just closed his eyes, after letting a smoke ring float through the air, when something hit him on the nose, causing him to cough softly.

Opening his eyes to give whoever daring to disturb him an irritated glance, he found himself eye to eye with an old man and a young girl. The girl looked quite nice in his eyes and he would not have minded her standing there, but the old man made him suspicious. He did not like odd men that could turn his smoke rings into delicate butterflies. Cause that was what had happened.

He sucked the tip of his pipe, blowing out some smoke before he plucked up the courage to speak.

"Good morning."

"What do you mean?", said the old man and frowned slightly. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not, or that you feel good this morning, or that it is a morning to be good on?"

The long row of words made the hobbit surprised and he sat there for a moment, shocked, before he replied.

"All of them at once, I suppose." Bilbo looked quickly from the man to the girl and then back again. Something told him this was not all. "Can I help you?" He shifted slightly on his bench and put the pipe back in his mouth. Maybe some of the good old Toby could calm his nerves?

"That remains to be seen", said the man and looked at him. "I am looking for someone to share in an adventure."

Now Bilbo could no more hold the shock inside and felt his mouth fall open. He held his pipe firm in his hand as he stared at the man.

"An adventure?", he said slowly. "No I don't imagine anyone west of Bree would have much interest in adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner." As he spoke, he got up from the bench and moved over to his mailbox. He was trying to send the man a message not to disturb him any more.

He quickly reached over the gate and opened the mailbox, pulling the letters out and starting to sort them through with the pipe in his mouth. He threw careful and suspicious glances at the old man as he did so, not daring to look away without knowing what he was doing.

After looking through them all, he put them together in a small pile and slapped them against his palm. Taking the pipe out of his mouth, he nodded towards the girl. "Good morning."

He moved slowly up his stairs towards the door, but was stopped by the old man speaking again.

"You think I should have lived to be good morning-ed by Belladonna Took's son?", the man said, almost a bit offended. "As if I was selling buttons by the door?"

Bilbo turned back towards him, now really irritated.  
"I beg you pardon?"

"You have changed and not entirely to the better, Mr Bilbo Baggins." The man rose his eyebrows and looked at the hobbit.

Next to him, Clara was starting to feel really bad for the poor Mr Baggins. She wanted to step in and help, but she did not know if this would make Gandalf angry. So she kept her mouth shut and watched with growing dismay.

"I am sorry, but do I know you?"

"Well, you know my name, but you don't remember that I belong to it." The wizard was starting to look a little amused by the frustration the hobbit radiated. "I am Gandalf. And Gandalf means... me." He was on his way to chuckle, but quickly realised that this was not the right moment. He would get his laughs later on, he was sure of it. So he simply just smiled instead.

"Gandalf?", Bilbo exclaimed quietly, staring at the man. "Not Gandalf the wandering wizard who used to make such excellent fireworks?" He indeed remembered the man. In fact, he knew quite a lot about him. "Old Took used to have them on midsummer's eve!" He smiled, remembering the old times when his relative was still alive.

The wizard smiled too. This was going smoothly.

"I had no idea that you were still in business." Bilbo's sentence made Clara chuckle softly, as the wizard looked a bit offended. He could not earn to get cocky.

"And where else should I be", he asked and frowned.

"Where else-" Here Bilbo stopped short and looked at Gandalf. He realised that he probably had crossed a line and that it was time to stop this once and for all.

"Well, I am glad you remember something about me", said the wizard, sighing slightly. "Even if it is only my fireworks." He did not sound very happy about this, but that did not show in his voice when he kept on speaking. "Yes. Well that is decided. It will be very good for you and most amusing for me. I shall inform the others." Speaking the last part, he turned to Clara, who nodded slowly. It seemed like the company had their desired burglar after all. Though an unwilling one.

"Inform the who?" Bilbo now looked very upset and confused. "No. No. Wait." He pointed the end of his pipe at the wizard, as if he wanted to show that he was serious. "We do not want any adventures here, thank you!" He quickly took the last step up his stairs, so that he was taller than both the wizard and the girl. "Not today. No-" He gestured with both his hands now, clearly annoyed. "I suggest you try Over the Hill or Across the Water." He glared at the old man, before taking a step towards his round, green door. "Good morning", he muttered, before disappearing inside, slamming and locking the door behind him.

Bilbo took a deep breath to calm himself down and quickly put both the pipe and his letters away. He needed some tea.

Outside Bag End, Under Hill, Gandalf moved up the stairs to the door and drew a glowing mark on the green door. Clara was on her way to protest, but as the mark faded away and was barely visible from where she stood, she decided not to. Gandalf must have a reason to it.

The wizard stood there for a moment, looking in through the window next to the door, scaring a poor hobbit, and then returned down to the blonde girl.

He hummed slightly as he walked past her and nodded slowly. He seemed pleased with himself. A bit too pleased for her taste.

As Gandalf walked down the brown road, she stayed behind. Something told her that she was not supposed to return with the wizard and that she was going to see the dwarves before long. All she had to do was to wait in front of the house that belonged to Mr Baggins.

Clara stood there for about ten minutes, before something happened again. She had expected Gandalf to return and look for her, but that had not yet happened, so she guessed he knew what she was up to. How he could know that, she did not know and she did not really feel like thinking about it. It made her head hurt again.  
When the round, green door opened slowly, showing the confused face of Mr Bilbo Baggins, Clara looked up in surprise. She had not thought he would dare to go outside so quickly.

"Hello there." She smiled softly towards him and got a faint smile in return.

"Is he gone?" The hobbit frowned slightly. He did not want any more sudden surprises.

"He is, yes. There is only me here." She waved slowly. "My name is Clara. Clara Walsh."

"It is very lovely to meet you, Clara", replied Bilbo. He liked the girl. She was much nicer than the wizard. "I am Bilbo Baggins." He nodded slowly and pushed the door open a bit more. Since there were no wizard in sight, he guessed he could stop peeking outside like a scared rabbit. That was something he did not like being compared to, that was for sure. "Tell me Miss Walsh", he said, guessing he could just as much be polite. "Would you care to join me for tea?" He had been thinking of lunch, but seeing as it was starting to get late in the afternoon and he was not that hungry, he figured tea was perfect.

"I would love to, Mr Baggins." Clara smiled brightly and carefully pushed the gate open, before climbing the short stairs. Bilbo quickly stepped aside to let her inside and she smiled once more as she crossed the threshold. "And please, just call me Clara", she said as she hung her backpack on a hook.

"Only if you call me Bilbo." The hobbit smiled and closed the door, after taking one last look outside to check for the wizard.

"We have a deal", chuckled Clara. She guessed this tea-time was going to be interesting.

_Author's note: Hello again! So, the next part is finished and up. I really hope you liked it! If you did, you're more than welcome to leave me a review. I love your reviews. They always makes my day a little brighter! So thank you for reviewing! :)  
Otherwise, I don't think there is much else. I can only tell you that in the next part, Clara and Kili will get to interact a bit more, if you're interested in that!  
Oh, and also: I haven't been able to find the script for the movie, so at times, the lines won't be completely accurate, since I'm writing by the help of my memory, clips on Youtube and gifs on Tumblr. I also use the book at times when I find that I need it.  
All right, that's all. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! I've seen there's a lot of people that has read the story, which makes me really happy!_


	6. Dumb dwarves

**Dumb dwarves**

Clara was pleased she had stayed behind and gotten invited by the hobbit. She had had a wonderful afternoon with him, getting shown around his house and the garden outside it. It was a nice place and she could hear on his voice that he was proud of it. He had told her that his father had built it for his mother and she guessed that he had done his best to make his wife have everything she needed.

They had had tea in his small saloon, in front of a fire, and Clara had really enjoyed it. She liked the style of the house and the fact that the hobbit was so welcoming towards someone he barely knew. He was not at all like she had expected him to be.

When the sun started to set and Clara started dozing off in front of the fire, Bilbo showed her to one of the guest rooms and told her to get some rest before dinner. She tried to convince him into letting her help him, but he refused and ushered her inside the room.

"I will wake you up in about two hours. After that blow to the head, you really need to sleep." He looked at her, a bit demanding, and she nodded slowly.

"Thank you so much." She smiled and he smiled back, as he started to close the door.

"It is nothing, dear." With that, the door closed softly and she was left in silence.

She left her coat and shoes by the door and then sank down on the soft bed. Her head had barely touched the pillow, before she was fully asleep.

When she woke up again, it was by someone giving the door a ring. She was not really ready of the sudden noise to reach her dreams, which was why she soon found herself on the floor, after falling out of the bed.

Clara rubbed her eyes tiredly and then rose from the floor, putting the blankets in order before leaving the room. She guessed Bilbo was receiving company and she did not want to be uncongenial by sleeping.

Stepping out into the hall, she ran her fingers through her hair to make sure it looked okay and then straitening the wrinkles on her shirt. She had left both her shoes and coat behind, but she guessed she would not need them inside.

She reached the door just in time to see an irritated hobbit pull the door open.

Outside, a dwarf was standing. He had a bald head and a black beard and Clara recognised him as one of the dwarves from earlier that day.

Seeing Bilbo, he turned towards him and bowed, not leaving the hobbit with his dark blue eyes. He acted almost as if he was awaiting an attack.

"Dwalin", he said with a deep voice. "At your service."

Bilbo stared at him for a moment, before he quickly starting tying his robe.

"Bilbo Baggins", he said, fussing about himself. "At yours."

Dwalin stepped inside without awaiting an invitation and nodded quickly towards Clara.

"Miss Walsh."

"Do we know each other?" Bilbo's eyes followed the dwarf, who stopped in front of him to be able to meet his gaze.

"No." The dwarf kept on walking, pulling his cloak of as he did so. "Which way, laddie? Is it down here?" He looked around him, his eyes searching.

"Is what down there?" Bilbo was still standing by the door, apparently too shocked to move.

"Supper." Dwalin's voice showed both the girl and the hobbit that he had been expecting this to be obvious. "He said there were going to be food." The dwarf walked back to the door, throwing his cloak at Bilbo as he did so. "And lots of it." He turned down towards the kitchen, leaving a confused girl and hobbit behind.

"He said?" Bilbo frowned. "Who said?" He quickly closed the door and hung the cloak over a hook, before running after the dwarf.

Clara, who had been just as surprised as the hobbit, followed him down to the cosy little kitchen, leaning against the door frame. Dwalin was already seated by the table, eating the small dinner that Bilbo apparently had prepared for himself and that he had been in the middle of eating when the dwarf had been ringing the doorbell.

It did not take long before Dwalin had finished the plate and was only holding clean fish bones in his big hand. He looked at them for a moment, before putting the head of the fish into his mouth and finishing it off.

Bilbo, who was sitting on a chair by the fireplace, was looking more shocked, and disgusted, than ever.

"Very good this. Any more?" Dwalin threw the hobbit an expectant glance, clearly still hungry.

Bilbo looked at him for a moment, not really understanding what he was saying.

"Oh, yes, yes", he said, quickly rising and stretching towards the window, where a plate filled with buns was standing. He walked forward towards the table, quickly picking one up for himself and keeping it away from the dwarf, before putting it down on the table. "Help yourself."

The dwarf immediately started showing the buns into his mouth, without saying anything. "It was just that I wasn't expecting company." He was about to continue, when the sound of the doorbell was heard again.

"That will be the door", Dwalin said, looking up as the hobbit did not move.

Bilbo stared at him for a moment, before quickly moving past Clara and out to the door again.

When he opened, he found himself eye to eye with another dwarf, that Clara recognised as Balin.

He smiled friendly at the hobbit and then bowed, introducing himself.

"Balin. At your service."

"Good evening", was all Bilbo got get forward this time and Balin looked up at the night sky, nodding.

"Yes, yes it is." Balin stepped inside so that he was standing right before Bilbo. "Though I think it might rain later", he commented. "Am I late?"

"Late for what?", Bilbo wondered slowly, looking at the dwarf.

Though he did not get any reply, cause Balin had found Dwalin, standing by a dresser, trying to get some cookies out of a cookie-jar.

"Oh, hah", he exclaimed and left the poor Mr Baggins alone by the door. "Evening, brother", he chuckled, walking up to the bald dwarf.

Dwalin put the jar down, looking at the white-haired one.

"By my beard", he chuckled. "You are shorter and wider than last we met." Clara did not even care to correct him about that they had only met a few hours earlier. Or maybe she had counted the dwarves wrong and Dwalin had not arrived until now? She shook her head. She was going to get declared as crazy before the evening was over, trying to understand the logic of dwarves.

"Wider, not shorter", Balin made clear. "Sharp enough for both of us." He winked and the brothers chuckled mischievously.

Dwalin took a step forward, placing his hands on Balin's shoulders. There they stood for a moment, looking at each other, before they suddenly knocked their foreheads together.

How they did not feel any pain, Clara could not understand, but she did not feel like asking. Instead she watched as Bilbo closed the door and carefully got closer to the two dwarves.

"Um, excuse me. Sorry, I hate to interrupt. But I am not entirely sure you are in the right house." He made a quick gesture towards the door, something the dwarves did not notice. Instead, they simply just turned and started to head for the pantry, followed by Bilbo.

Clara, who started to feel tired again, simply sat down on the sofa and listened as the hobbit tried to reason with the two dwarves. She guessed that she should probably leave that to him to handle. She did not have a clue about what the dwarves were doing at his house, so she would be of no help whatsoever.

Hearing fragments of the conversation of the dwarves and the hobbit speaking in the background, she leaned backwards in the sofa and yawned. She had clearly not gotten enough sleep to be able to handle a night around two loud dwarves.

When something suddenly got thrown out from the pantry, landing on the floor in the hall, she rose again to go check on what was happening.

She stepped over a small, round cheese on the floor, arriving in time to hear Bilbo speak again.

"I don't mean to be blunt, but I had to speak my mind. I am sorry." Bilbo held his hands up, most of what he had said going unnoticed by the two bearded brothers inside the pantry.

But at the word "sorry", they looked up and went quiet. Bilbo cleared his throat awkwardly and Balin smiled.

"Apology accepted.", he said, before they continued their conversation. The hobbit frowned, a bit confused about what had just happened.

He was about to speak again, when the doorbell rang. He turned, surprised, and found Clara standing there.

"I do not understand what they are doing here", he growled and looked at her. She hummed slowly and gave him a faint smile.

"You have not..." She stopped abruptly and frowned.

"I have not what?" He raised his eyebrows towards her.

"You have not thought about that this might have something to do with Gandalf?" Clara felt bad about bringing it up, due to that she knew how distressed Bilbo had been by his earlier encounter with the wizard.

"Oh..." Bilbo looked at her for a moment, before nodding. "Can you please make sure they does not kill anyone. I will go check the door." He smiled quickly and then headed down the hall to the door.

Clara kept one eye on the dwarves, but still moved a bit down the hall to be able to see the door and hear what was said. She was interested in what the next dwarf was going to be.

Bilbo slowly opened the door, revealing not one, but two dwarves outside. The one to the left, smiled widely towards the hobbit, that looked more shocked than ever.

"Fili", said the smiling one.

"Kili", said the one next to him, that had dark hair.

"At your service." The last part was said in unison, as both of them bowed deeply.

When they straightened up, they were both smiling and Clara found herself meeting Kili's gaze, when he looked behind the hobbit.

"You must be Mr Boggins." Kili quickly turned his eyes away from the blonde girl and smiled towards the hobbit, who did not look very happy about this.

"Nope! You cannot come in, you have come to the wrong house!" Bilbo spoke fast and started to push the door close, something the dwarves was not totally pleased with.

"What? Has it been cancelled?" Kili pushed the door inwards and took a small step forward, looking a bit surprised.

"No one has told us." Fili threw his brother a glance, before looking at the hobbit suspiciously.

"Cance- No! Nothing has been cancelled!" Bilbo frowned and shook his head slightly. He was about to say something else, but his earlier words had been enough for the two brothers.

"That is a relief!" Kili smiled again and then stepped right in, quickly followed by Fili. They caused the hobbit to step to the side and take care of closing the door.

Dumping their weapons in the arms of the poor hobbit, they then kept on moving inwards.

"Well, hello again." Fili smiled and bowed slightly towards Clara as they reached her. "I did not really expect to find you here, Miss Walsh."

"I can say the same to you." Clara smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "And besides, I have already told you to call me Clara. I feel so old when you call me Miss Walsh."

"If you say so, _Miss Walsh._" Kili winked and met her gaze with a smile resting on his lips.

"Oh shut up." She laughed and shook her head slowly.

"If you say so." He gripped her hand and leaned down, kissing it softly. "Your word is my command." He looked up at her slowly, locking eyes with her for a moment.

"Lads!", Dwalin suddenly called out from somewhere behind them and they both jumped, looking in his direction. "Come on, let us get on with this."

Kili quickly let go of Clara's hand and followed his brother, that had already disappeared into the dining room.

Clara followed, a bit surprised about what had just happened, and soon found herself in the middle of chaos.

The four dwarves had in the matter of minutes started to move things around, so that two tables could fit in the room, and they were all talking in loud voices.

Which was why Clara missed when the rest of the company arrived. She was busy tending to the dwarves needs and not getting crushed by them carrying tables and chairs around.

So within minutes, she found herself surrounded by not only four, but twelve dwarves, a wizard and a panicking hobbit.

_Author's note: So, yet another part is up. This is probably the longest yet, it's more than three pages in my computer, and I'm really pleased with it! I hope you will like it too! Oh, and thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and showing me some love by reading this. I really hope you will keep on reading and finds it worth reviewing. Thank you!  
And I knew I said Clara and Kili was going to interact a bit more, but if I was going to push that part in here too, then it would have been almost five pages, so I will save that for the next part. You got a little of them interacting at least! :)  
Thanks for reading and please review if you got the time for it! Love you!_


	7. Party panic

**Party panic**

If it had been madness before, there was no exception now and she wondered how she was ever going to understand which dwarf that was who. The way they ran around her, carrying food and things to sit on, made it feel like they were more than twelve. Much more.

Poor Bilbo was just as confused as her, but he actually tried to stop them from ruining his house and eating all his food. His comments could be heard throughout it all, something that the dwarves pretty much just ignored.

"Those are my plates!" He tried to stop one dwarf, only to spot another and calling out to this one. "Excuse me, not my wine!" Nothing really made a change and he always spotted new dwarves that caused him problem. "Put that back. Put that back!" He tried to usher someone back to the pantry, only to spot a dwarf grabbing something else. "Not the jam please. Excuse me!" The last part of the sentence was directed to the fattest dwarf in the company. Clara knew he was either Bofur or Bombur.

The dwarf was carrying three massive cheese wheels and looked quite pleased with himself. Clara chuckled. She knew he had quite an appetite and that there would not be much left of that cheese later.

"Don't get too fascinated by old Bombur", Kili suddenly whispered in her ear and she jumped by the surprise.

"God, you scared me." She placed her hand over her heart and he grinned mischievously.

"I am sorry." He tried to sound concerned, but she knew he was just messing with her.

"I bet you are." In the background, she could hear Bilbo mention something about a cheese knife and a dwarf reply.

"Cheese knife? He eats it by the block."

"You don't believe me?" Kili raised his eyebrows and watched as a smile rose on Clara's lips.

"Not even the slightest." She shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Such a pity, I must say." Both of them were still smiling and watched as Bilbo encountered the next dwarf that did something that he disliked. This time it was the old dwarf having a hearing trumpet and one with red hair and beard, looking kind of grumpy.

"No, no, that is Grandpa Mungo's chair! No, I am sorry, you will have to take it back please. Take it back! It is antique, not for sitting on! Thank you! That is a book, not a coaster. Put that map down, thank you!" Bilbo was in the middle of everything, trying to get the old dwarf to bring the chair back, at the same time as he tried to stop the other dwarves from doing things he did not approve of.

"I cannot hear you!" The old dwarf, who was not able to hold his hearing trumpet at the same time as he carried the chair, therefore did not care about what the hobbit was saying and just kept on moving.

"I am feeling so sorry for him", Clara murmured to herself. Watching the scene before her, had made her forget about the dark-haired dwarf next to her and therefore, she jumped when he spoke. Again.

"Oh, he needs something to cheer him up. He seems a bit uptight."

"Hey!" She pushed him in the side and frowned. "There is no need to ruin his house because of that." He chuckled and shook his head slowly.

"Don't you worry, Clara. We can seem rough, but we are always thankful to those offering us somewhere to sleep and something to eat."

Clara did not entirely believe him.

In the chaos of the dining room, Gandalf was slowly trying to get his head straight about the mass of dwarves surrounding him. The wizard knew who each and everyone were, but the way they ran around, made him just as confused as anyone else.

"Excuse me, Mr Gandalf, can I tempt you with a nice cup of chamomile tea?" Dori, holding a tray in his hands, looked up at the wizard, a bit hopeful.

"Oh, no thank you, Dori. A little red wine for me, I think." The dwarf looked a bit disappointed, something Gandalf barely noticed, as he left the room to try and count how many that had yet arrived. Hitting his head on a chandelier hanging low from the roof, he groaned slightly and then started counting. "Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori... Ori." The last, young dwarf was quite hard to spot in the madness, but he succeeded anyway.

He let his old eyes search the room, not finding the one he was seeking. He sighed. Late as always.

The sudden sound of heavy Khuzdul, made him look down and find the dwarf with an axe buried in his head. Bifur.

"Yes, you are quite right, Bifur. We appear to be one dwarf short."

Dwalin, who had been listening close by, quickly commented on this.

"He is late, that is all. He travelled North for a meeting of our kin. He will come." Gandalf did not look very pleased with this, but decided to accept it anyway.

"Mr Gandalf?" In the meantime, Dori had returned with the wine.

Gandalf hummed slightly, to show the dwarf that he could go on talking. "A little glass of red wine, as requested. It has got a fruity bouquet." He held a tiny glass forward and the wizard leaned down, gripping it carefully. When Dori said it was small, it really was small.

He quickly poured the drink down his throat and then looked down at the glass. He wished that the glass had been bigger...

While Gandalf was feeling sad about the small glass, the dwarves started to seat themselves in the dining room.

They had pushed two large tables together and placed chairs all around it. When all twelve dwarves, Clara and Gandalf had seated themselves, the room looked even smaller than before. Though no one did really mind. Except for Bilbo, of course.

Clara was seated between Ori and Kili, which she did not mind, since both of the young dwarves were really nice and easy to talk to. It was rather crammed and she had to duck quite a few times, as the dwarves started throwing food to one another.

Bombur was seated at the end and it was here most of the food was thrown. As the dwarves were repeatedly pushing each other, the food often flew in the wrong direction. So after a while, Clara found that her plate had received some more food than she had placed there from the beginning.

"Bombur, catch!" A dwarf wearing a quite weird hat, threw an egg across the table, towards the fat dwarf. Bombur caught it self-consciously in his mouth, causing everyone to cheer.

"I believe you would win every "Catch the food"- competition ever created", Clara chuckled and smiled towards the dwarf.

"Oh, don't make him cocky, Miss Walsh", the dwarf with the hat called out. "That only makes him eat more." He winked and Bombur quickly popped a small tomato into his mouth.

"I don't mind the slightest, Miss Walsh. My brother, Bofur, is just trying to confuse you." Even though the fat dwarf tried to sound calm, Clara could hear a slight pride in his voice as he spoke.

"Who wants an ale?" When Fili suddenly appeared in the doorway, carrying tankards in his hands, everyone started shouting.

Taking a leap up onto the table, the young dwarf started making his way towards his place, giving the ale to the dwarves he passed. "There you go." He put the last one down in front of Clara and then jumped down on his place opposite her.

"I don't drink ale", she commented slowly, staring down into the gigantic mug.

"Well, you have to start somewhere." Ori pushed her in the side and she hummed slowly.

"On the count of three!" Kili called out loudly, causing everyone to lift their tankards and push them together. "One, two..." On the three, all of the dwarves lifted the tankards to their lips and started drinking.

During a few minutes, all that was heard was the sound of the dwarves drinking their ale. Clara watched quietly, a bit disgusted by the way at least half of the alcohol was finding its way into their beards.

She herself was just sitting there with the tankard placed in front of her and a disgusted look on her face. She could not remember ever drinking ale, but something told her that she did not like it the slightest.

But as all the dwarves finished, some of them burping loudly and causing the others to laugh, she looked down at the honey-coloured drink. Maybe she should give it a try after all?

"Come on then, Clara. Try it. It takes some time getting used to, but I'm sure you will like it." Fili smiled towards her across the table and she bit her lip thoughtfully.

"I suppose I could at least give it a try", she said slowly and the dwarf nodded.

"No one will tease you that much if you does not like it." Kili winked and she shot him a glare, before lifting the tankard to her lips and taking a big sip.

She held the drink in her mouth for a minute, her face slowly shaping into a look of disgust. The taste was horrible, even more horrible than she had imagined, and all she wanted was to throw up.

"Come on, swallow it down." Dori, who was sitting on the other side of Kili, gave the girl a small smile. He knew that the taste of ale was not really that suited for the humans. They appreciated lighter things, like wine or tea. At least, that was his impression.

Clara gave the old dwarf a thankful look and then swallowed, making a face as she did so. She quickly put the tankard down on the table and shivered.

"Never again", she said and looked from Kili to Fili. "Never again! It was terrible."

The dwarves laughed and she could feel her cheeks turn slightly red by the embarrassment. They were so used to ale, while she was not and to them her reaction was quite unusual.

"I believe we will have one sober person in our midst, which is rather good." Ori smiled and Clara rolled her eyes.

"How fun that will be. Me, nannying a bunch of over-grown babies." She chuckled and the dwarves murmured in their beards over the comment. They did not like being called over-grown babies, that was for sure.

After this, the dwarves quickly left the table to start exploring the house. A lot of them kept on searching both the kitchen and the pantry for more food and tankards of ale was still passed around.

Clara, who felt that she had had enough of ale and burps for one day, decided to return to the room Bilbo had lent her. She wanted a moment of peace and quiet and that was the only place she thought would be empty of dwarves.

She was wrong.

When she entered the room, she found that a dark-haired dwarf was seated on the bed. He looked up and smiled when she sat down next to him.

"I guessed this was where you were heading." Kili smiled and met her gaze.

"You guessed right, dear dwarf." She smiled back and yawned. She was still tired, even though she had slept for so long. "What do you want?"

"I just thought I could hand this over to you." Kili held up a blue cloak and stretched it forward to her. "Thorin asked me to bring it for you. That coat will not do during cold nights." He nodded towards her coat, that was laying on a chair by the door, next to her backpack.

"Oh, thank you." She smiled brightly and gripped the cloak, stroking the soft, blue material. It was beautiful and she knew that she was going to be thankful for this later on. It seemed warm enough for cold nights and like it would keep most rain and snow out. "This is going to be useful." She smiled and he nodded slowly.

"I suppose." He rose slowly and threw her a quick glance. "Are you coming? I believe something is going on out there." She did not know what he was speaking of and did not really care for it, but she rose anyway and followed him back out into the hall.

"I will go check on Bilbo." She nodded quickly towards the dark-haired dwarf, who opened his mouth to speak, but the girl was already gone before he even got the chance to utter a word.

"She is way out of your league, brother." Fili patted his brother's shoulder and got a glare in reply.

"And what does you know of that, if I may ask?" Kili looked at his brother, who smiled knowingly.

"I am in fact older than you and I do know quite a bit more. And I do know that she is in fact human and that she will not want a bearded dwarf like ourselves." He shrugged his shoulders. "She will probably end up marrying a high lord of Gondor or an elf of the forests."

"You speak as if you knew her", Kili said slowly, shaking his head in disbelief. "We does not even know where she is from or what kind her blood is."

"But I know that we will find out before long and that is all that matters." Fili smiled and met his brother's gaze. He tried to sound confident, even though he was not even sure. He was just guessing, trying to keep his brother away from the girl. Their adventure did _not_ need a lovey-dovey couple.

_Author's note: Hello again! Another finished part is here :) I got quite pleased, though I'm not entirely sure about everything. If there is anything you want to comment on, then please review and tell me what you think! I love to hear from you all! :)_  
_Anyway, as you might have noticed, I have changed my username. From __**Beautiful**__**Birdy**____to __**Beautiful**__**Baggins**__ I don't know why really, I just got the idea and did it. I hope this isn't confusing! _  
_So, if you have the time, please leave a review and tell me your opinion on the story. Thank you! :)_


	8. Serious speaking

**Serious speaking**

Clara found the hobbit in the middle of the kitchen, looking on as the dwarves where walking around his lovely house.

"Excuse me, that is a doily, not a dishcloth!" Bilbo pulled an odd looking piece of cloth out of the hands of the dwarf he had spoken to and sighed deeply.

"But it is full of holes." Bofur, who was leaning against the wall, looked a bit surprised.

"It is supposed to look like that! It is crochet." Bilbo but the cloth down and threw a quick glance into the room next door, where most of the dwarves were still seated around the table.

"Oh, and a wonderful game it is too, if you got the balls for it." Bofur watched the hobbit move around the kitchen and then nodded slowly towards Clara. "Miss Clara."

"Bebother and confusticate these dwarves!" Bilbo sighed again and looked like he wished himself miles away.

"Mr Bilbo?" Clara put a hand on his shoulder, concerned for how he was really feeling.

"My dear Bilbo, what on earth is the matter?" Before Bilbo had the time to say anything, Gandalf entered the room and looked down on the hobbit and the girl.

"What is the matter? I am surrounded by dwarves. What are they doing here?" The three watched as Bofur stepped over to the dwarf that had used the doily as a dishcloth, and gripped the chain of sausages that was hanging over his shoulder. As none of the dwarves wanted to give the food up, they directly started fighting and started moving back into the dining room as they did so.

"Oh, they are quite a merry gathering, once you get used to them." Gandalf smiled, looking quite pleased with the situation he had put the hobbit in.

"I don't want to get used to them!" Bilbo sighed and gestured around him. "Look at the state of my kitchen!" When he continued talking, he moved out into the hall, still gesturing. "There is mud trod into the carpet, they have pillaged the pantry. I am not even going to tell you what they have done in the bathroom. They have all but destroyed the plumbing!" He took a deep sigh and looked up at Gandalf. "I don't understand what they are doing in my house!" He probably would have gone on the same way during the rest of the evening, if it had not been for Ori, walking up to them holding a plate in his hands.

"Excuse me, I am sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?" He looked at the hobbit, who opened his mouth to speak, but never got the chance to.

"Here you go, Ori, give it to me." Out of the blue, Fili turned up, taking the plate from the other dwarf and throwing it through the air.

Kili, who had been standing further down the hall, smoking his pipe and watched the conversation, caught it in his hand and then threw it into the next room.

This was what started the next madness.

Suddenly, the air was filled with plates, bowls, cups and cutlery being thrown through the air.

"Excuse me, that is my mother's West Farthing crockery, it is over a hundred years old!" Bilbo, switching back into panic-mode, tried to stop the dwarves, but not succeeding.

In the dining room, the dwarves had started drumming the table with their fists and the cutlery in their hands. They let the knives and forks scrape towards one another, something that the hobbit did not like at all. "And can you not do that? You will blunt them!"

"Oh, do you hear that, lads? He says we will blunt the knives." Bofur smiled mischievously, not really making an effort to stopping.

Clara, who was trying to keep out of the way and not get hit by flying plates, was having a great time. She loved the dwarves and their happy spirit. It cheered up the evening even more.

It was not that she was enjoying making fun of Bilbo and not caring for his worry about his house. She was just having such a great time, that was all.

When suddenly Kili started singing and the others joined in, she found herself spellbound by the sudden happiness of the company.

"Blunt the knives, bend the forks

Smash the bottles and burn the corks

Chip the glasses and crack the plates

That is what Bilbo Baggins hates!

Cut the cloth and tread the fat

Leave the bones on the bedroom matt

Pour the milk on the pantry floor

Splash the wine on every door

Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl

Pound them up with a thumping pole

When you have finished, if any are whole

Send them down the hall to roll!"

Here a slight pause came, when the dwarves played happily on instruments, before another round of "That is what Bilbo Baggins hates!", could be heard, echoing through the house.

The dwarves, now surrounding the clean dishes, laughed at Bilbo's confused face and patted each others backs. The noise was so loud, no one had the chance to speak properly, and Clara wondered if they were ever going to fall silent.

The three sudden knocks on the door, was what made the dwarves shut up.

"He is here." Gandalf looked seriously at Bilbo, who looked rather afraid by now.

The hobbit quickly found his way to the door and pulled it open. The dwarves stood silently around him, watching as the night outside was revealed.

Against the starry skies, a dark-haired dwarf was seen. He gave Bilbo a judgemental, but yet proud, look and then stepped inside without an invitation. No "At your service" this time. For Thorin Oakenshield served no one.

"Gandalf. I thought you said this place was easy to find. I lost my way. Twice. Would not have found it if it had not been for the mark on the door." Thorin walked inside while speaking to the wizard, placing himself in front of his dwarves and dumping his beautiful cloak in the hands of his nearest nephew, Kili.

"Mark? There is no mark on that door. It was painted a week ago!" Bilbo looked rather offended and was about to show he was right by pulling the door open again, but Gandalf stopped him by standing in his way.

"There is a mark. I put it there myself." Gandalf almost sounded a bit embarrassed, something that Clara found rather odd. He had been so confident when drawing that mark all those hours ago. "Bilbo Baggins, allow me to introduce the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield."

The hobbit did not look completely at ease with this. He apparently did not want the leader in there at all.

"So this is the Hobbit." Thorin started walking around Bilbo, his eyes examining the hobbit closely. "Tell me, Mr Baggins. Have you done much fighting?"

"Pardon me?" Bilbo looked at the dwarf with big eyes, as if he had never heard that before in his life.

"Axe or sword? What is your weapon of choice?" Thorin threw Clara a quick glance as he passed her and the girl knew that she was probably going to get the same treatment soon enough.

"Well, I have some skill at Conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see why that is relevant." Bilbo stood up a bit straighter when saying this, apparently very proud about this.

"Thought as much." Thorin did not look pleased, as he returned to stand with his dwarves. "He looks more like a grocer than a burglar." The dwarves laughed, apparently thinking the same.

Clara, who saw the confused and sad face of the hobbit, took a step forward and placed a hand on Bilbo's shoulder.

"I am not so sure you should be so fast out-judging Mr Baggins. He may surprise you a great deal, O Great Lord Of The Mountain." She did not know from where the courage to speak or the formal language came from, but it felt right speaking that way.

At least it felt so until Thorin gave her a murderous glare.

"I do not believe anyone asked for your opinion on the matter, Miss Walsh. I am the leader of this company and I am the one making the decisions. You should be happy I do not just throw you out of the company at once for that comment." He frowned and then turned his back to her, beginning to speak to Kili and Fili. It did not take long, before he was escorted from the hall and into the dining room to get something to eat.

Thorin's harsh words had surprised Clara quite a bit and she knew that she probably had messed up big time. She had just wanted to help Bilbo. She did not mean to offend anyone or tread on their toes. But apparently she had.

One by one, the dwarves left the hall and returned back to the dining room. Clara did not feel like following. She just wanted to be left alone. But Bilbo convinced her otherwise.

"I am thankful for what you did, dear one", he said and smiled up at her. "Mr Oakenshield had no right whatsoever to speak to you like that. He need to learn how to speak to a lady." He seemed quite happy and was clearly trying to cheer Clara up.

"Thank you, dear Bilbo. Though I cannot say I am a lady. I have no idea who I am or where I am from, so I cannot pretend to be something I might not be." She bit her lip and blinked a few sudden tears, both of anger and hurt, away.

"I am certain you are a lady. If not an elven, but at least a lady of Gondor." He smiled again and she nodded slowly.

"I guess I am someone." She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a faint smile. "I guess we should join the others. It seems like Thorin got news for us." Bilbo murmured something about this, but did not really complain. Instead he just followed her into the dining room to join the dwarves in their meeting.

They had all gathered around the table, this time all of them quiet and serious. Most of the dwarves had pulled out their pipes and was smoking as they watched Thorin eat.

Clara was placed again in the corner of the room, this time sitting between Kili and Fili, with Bombur at the end near them.

She was quiet and only listened as the brothers spoke, not having anything to add to their conversation. She mostly felt like she was in the wrong place. An addition no one wanted there. Someone that was only in the way, being to no use.

"Clara, are you feeling all right?" Kili threw her a concerned look, noticing the distant look on the girl's face.

"Oh, yes, I am perfectly fine." She gave him a quick smile, before looking away and locking her gaze onto an empty tankard that was placed on the table before her.

"I hope you did not get too offended by my uncle speaking earlier. He can be quite harsh when in a bad mood." The dark-haired dwarf exchanged a quick look with his brother, before turning his gaze back to the blonde girl. He was worried that she was going to pull out of the company because of what Thorin had said. She seemed so crestfallen since the earlier incident.

"No, no it is fine. I guess I should not have spoken that way to him in the first place. I just..." She stopped herself and shrugged her shoulders, as if to show him she did not really care.

"He can handle it. I promise, he will have forgotten all about it in the morning." Kili placed his arm around her shoulders, trying everything to comfort her.

"I do not care about what he will do", she murmured and looked up, the blue-green eyes dark. "I will still remember it and know that he does not want me there." She shook her head. "I should not have come in the first place." She bit her lip and met his gaze.

"Don't say that. You could not have made it out there all by yourself. Besides, we need you. You are a part of our company now and that is all." He smiled and saw a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth. "Come on, I know you really like being a part of all this." He winked, trying his best to make the twitch turn into a full smile.

"My brother is right. You belong here and you cannot deny that." Fili felt like he needed to stop the two of them to get too cosy and therefore decided to butt in. Also he placed an arm around the girl's shoulders, earning a glare from his brother as he did so. Kili was not amused.

"Oh shut up you two." Clara laughed quietly, feeling a smile spread on her lips. The brothers really had cheered her up.

The three spent a few more minutes chatting, but when Balin spoke and everyone around the table turned silent, they turned their attention to Thorin.

"What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come?"

Thorin looked up from his bowl and nodded slowly.

"Aye. Envoys from all the seven kingdoms." He looked rather pleased about this, but the next question made him serious once more.

"What do the dwarves from the Iron Hills say? Is Dain with us?" This time it was Dwalin who spoke. Thorin sighed deeply.

"They will not come." He looked down a bit sadly and Clara understood that this was something that disappointed him.

The other dwarves murmured, showing their sadness over the news. "They say this quest is ours and ours alone." Thorin sighed again and the others murmured again in disappointment.

"You are going on a quest?" The sudden sound of Bilbo's voice, made everyone turn to the doorway. The hobbit had been keeping himself in the background, putting the dishes back on their shelves and only listened half-heartedly to the conversation.

"Bilbo, my dear fellow, let us have a little more light." Gandalf thought it was better to explain everything correctly and make everyone understand completely.

Bilbo quickly fetched a candle to add to those already placed on the table, and return to find Gandalf spreading a small map on the table. "Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lays a single, solitary peak." Gandalf pointed to the map, where Clara could see a drawing of a mountain.

"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo leaned over the map, reading the name out loud and putting the candle down.

"Aye. Oin has read the portents and the portents say it is time." The dwarf with the red beard and hair that Clara had found grumpy earlier, now spoke with a thick accent and nodded towards another dwarf.

The dwarf he had nodded towards, Oin, nodded in reply.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of yore return to the mountain, the reign of the beast will end." It was a powerful saying and no one dared to break the heavy silence that followed. No one except for the hobbit.

"Hm, what beast?" He looked quite scared where he stood in the doorway, looking from one dwarf to another.

"Well, that would be a reference to Smaug The Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meathooks, extremely fond of precious metals." Bofur, who was trying to be friendly, smiled softly with his pipe placed in the corner of his mouth.

"Yes, I know what a dragon is", Bilbo said, a bit irritated.

"I am not afraid! I am up for it! I will give him a taste of dwarfish iron right up his jacksie." Ori, who was showing his courageous side, stood up and said this. The other dwarves shouted, cheering him on.

"Sit down!" The elder dwarf next to him, Dori, quickly pulled him down on his spot again, a bit annoyed by his actions.

"The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us. But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best, nor brightest." Balin spoke slowly, his words causing the other dwarves to shout in protest.

"We may be few in numbers, but we are fighters, all of us, to the last dwarf!" Fili spoke loudly, causing the others to hum in agreement.

"And you forget, we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time!" Kili smiled broadly, adding to his brother's words.

His sudden movements awoke Clara, who had been dozing of against his shoulder and she now sat up straight, watching as the dwarves started making bets of how many dragons the old wizard could have killed.

"Oh, I um, well, I would not say that I..." Gandalf stuttered, a bit embarrassed, coughing smoke from his pipe.

"How many then?"

"Uh, what?" Gandalf looked a bit surprised over the direct question.

"Well, how many dragons have you killed? Go on, give us a number!"One dwarf shouted this out, causing the others to start shouting again.

Gandalf coughed some more smoke, now clearly embarrassed.

The shouting increased and the dwarves started to rise up, waving their fists in the air and imagining glorious battles that the wizard could have gone through.

It all ended with Thorin standing up and shouting something in a language Clara had never heard before.  
"Shazara!" The dwarves immediately fell silent and sat back down, looking up at their leader. "If we have read the signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for sixty years. Eyes look East to the Mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours? Or do we seize this chance to take back Erebor? Du Bekár! Du Bekár!"

The dwarves started cheering once more and Thorin sat back down in his chair, a pleased look on his face.

"You forget: The front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain." Balin looked sadly around him, sighing tiredly.

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." Gandalf, seeing the sad faces of the dwarves, played with the fingers of his hand. A key suddenly appeared, out of thin air, held firm by the long fingers.

"How came you by this?" Thorin looked at it with big eyes, apparently remembering it from somewhere.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thráin, for safe-keeping. It is yours now." Gandalf handed the key to Thorin, who looked at it, examining every part of it.

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Fili spoke the mind of everyone in the room, getting faint hums of agreement.

"These runes speaks of a hidden passage to the lower halls." Gandalf pointed at the map with his pipe, causing everyone to shift, so that they could see it more closely.

"There is another way in!" Kili broke the silence, again startling Clara, who had been dozing of once more. She choked a yawn with her hand and tried to focus. It would not be very good if she fell asleep there and destroyed everything by snoring in the corner.

"Well, if we can find it, but dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gandalf sighed. "The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map and I do not have the skill to find it. But there are others in Middle-Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth and no small amount of courage. But if we are careful and clever, I believe that it can be done." Gandalf let his eyes travel the room, looking at the serious faces surrounding him.

"That is why we need a burglar." The always helpful Ori, threw Bilbo an expectant and hopeful glance.

"Hm, a good one too. An expert, I would imagine." Bilbo looked at the map, frowning while looking at the runes that spoke of the door.

"And are you", the red-headed, grumpy-looking dwarf asked.

"Am I what", Bilbo asked, a bit surprised.

"He says he is an expert!" Oin, the old dwarf with the hearing trumpet, cheered and the others joined in.

"Me? No, no, no, no, I am not a burglar. I have never stolen a thing in my life." Bilbo quickly started protesting, throwing Gandalf a quick look.

"I am afraid I will have to agree with Mr Baggins. He is hardly burglar material." Balin spoke, earning a nod in agreement from the hobbit.

"Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves." Dwalin looked at the dwarf, a bit concerned, but still agreeing with his brother.

"Though I think Bilbo would be able to fight if he had to", Clara spoke up, again feeling that she had to defend the dwarf. She earned a few confused looks, but no one replying.

The dwarves instead started to discuss the matter with one another, earning a few nods from Bilbo from time to time.

But Gandalf would not have this.

"Enough! If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar, then a burglar he is!" Gandalf seemed to grow a few inches, casting a dark shadow over the group, that quickly fell silent again.

Pleased with what he had done, Gandalf shrunk back to his normal size and kept on speaking. "Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet. In fact, they can pass unseen by most if they choose. And while the dragon is accustomed to the smell of dwarf, the scent of hobbit is all but unknown to him, which gives us a distinct advantage. You asked me to find the fourteenth member of this company and I have chosen Mr Baggins. There is a lot more to him than appearance suggest, and he has got a great deal more to offer than any of you know, including himself. You must trust me on this." Gandalf got quite pleased with himself, but the hobbit looked more afraid than anything else. "The same also applies to Miss Clara. She has already shown you some of her power and you will sure find more strength in her before long."  
Suddenly, Clara found herself looked on by thirteen dwarves, a wizard and a hobbit and she felt her cheeks turn red, as she bent her head down.

"Very well, we will do it your way." Thorin sighed and looked at first Gandalf, then Bilbo and then Clara.

"No, no, no." Bilbo tried to protest, but got cut off by the leader of the company.

"Give them the contracts." He waved his hand, showing Balin to take over.

"Please." Bilbo tried to protest, but got cut off once more.

"All right, we are off." Bofur smiled in his corner, watching as Bilbo and Clara got handed a long contract each by Balin.

"It is just the usual summary of out-of-pocket expenses, time required, remuneration, funeral arrangements, so forth." The white-haired dwarf shrugged his shoulders, earning a wondering glance from the hobbit.

"Funeral arrangements?", he murmured to himself, as he stepped back out into the hall and started reading the long document.

In the room, Clara did the same. It was a lot of text and it made her tired head spin, but she did not complain and just read on, while Thorin and Gandalf held a whispering conversation and Kili and Fili helped her understand all the phrases and expressions.

Out in the hall, Bilbo started reading the contract out loud to himself.

"Terms: Cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any. Present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence, there of including but not limited to lacerations..." He paused for a moment to think. "Evisceration..." He paused again. "Incineration?" He looked up, repeating the word again, louder this time so that the dwarves could hear it. "Incineration?"

"Aye, he will melt the flesh of your bones in the blink of an eye." Bofur looked up from his pipe, causing Bilbo to look a bit breathless by this information.

"Hm." He breathed slowly, earning concerned glances. Also Clara looked up from her own contract, worried for the health of the hobbit.

"Are you all right, laddie?" Balin frowned and followed the hobbit with his old eyes. Bilbo bended forward, hands on his knees, trying to breath.

"Ah, yeah, feel a bit faint." He murmured, trying mostly to calm himself.

"Think furnace with wings." Bofur tried to help, something that only made Bilbo even more stressed out.

"Air, I need air", he breathed, looking up.

"Flash of light, searing pain, then POOF! You are nothing more than a pile of ash."

Bilbo breathed even heavier, all eyes on him. He straightened up, shook his head, before saying:

"Hm, nope." With that, he fell to the floor, knocked out.

"Ah, very helpful, Bofur"; Gandalf said, sighing as he rose from his chair. Things were going great.

_Author's note: So, here's another part. I actually didn't think I would upload anything today, but I actually got the time to write this. And it got really long, too!  
I really hope you will like it and if you got the time to leave a review, I hope you do! I love to hear from you all! Thanks for reading :)_


	9. Tea

**Tea**

"I will be all right, just let me sit quietly for a moment." Bilbo hugged the mug in his hands, starting into the fire.

He had been transported into his sitting room and placed in his armchair by the blazing fire. The dwarves had quickly split up and was now spread around the house.

"Would you like some more tea, Bilbo?" Clara, who was sitting in an armchair opposite from the hobbit, looked at him with concern in her eyes. She knew how he had felt earlier. Also she had been feeling quite faint by Bofur's words.

"No, no thank you, Clara." Bilbo smiled and sighed.

"You have been sitting quietly for far too long." Gandalf, who stood in the middle of the room, looked down on the hobbit, a bit annoyed by his actions. "Tell me; When did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young Hobbit who always was running off in search of elves in the woods, who would stay out late, come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies. A young Hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps. It is out there." Gandalf sighed and looked at the hobbit, who did not look convinced.

Clara understood him. She was feeling the same. She had not really decided if she wanted to come. The contract had made her doubt she would make it out there.

"I cannot just go running off into the blue." Bilbo sighed and looked down on his mug. "I am a Baggins. Of Bag End." As he spoke the last sentence, he gestured with his free hand, as if he was trying to make a statement. It did not convince Gandalf.

"You are also a Took. Did you know that your great-great-great-great-uncle, Bullroarer Took, was so large he could ride a real horse?"

"Yes", Bilbo murmured quietly. Apparently this was a story he had heard way too often for his liking.

"Well, he could. In the battle of Green Fields he charged the Goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard it knocked the Goblin King's head clean off and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus the battle was won and the game of golf invented at the same time." Gandalf's words, made Clara smile. It was an impressive story.

"I do believe you made that up." Bilbo was not as impressed.

"Well, all good stories deserve embellishment. You will have a tale or two to tell when you come back."

"Can you promise that I will come back?" Bilbo looked at the wizard expectantly. Gandalf sighed.

"No. And if you do, you will not be the same."

"That is what I thought. Sorry Gandalf, I cannot sign this. You have got the wrong Hobbit." He gestured towards the contract that lay before him, and then rose from the chair, putting his mug down and heading off down the hall.

"Goodnight, Bilbo", Clara called off after him, not gaining a reply.

Gandalf looked after the hobbit for a while, before he left the room and pulled his pipe out. To Clara, it seemed that he had really given up on Bilbo. She had hoped that he would come, but she now understood that she was alone with the dwarves.

She picked her own contract up and rose from the chair, heading over to a small table by the window. She gripped a pencil, dipped it in ink and then wrote her signature on the destined place. She figured there was no other choice for her.

Looking out of the window for a moment, she took a deep breath, before folding the contract and returning into the room next door, where the dwarves were seated.

"Is he coming?" Kili looked up at her from her pipe, expecting a good answer, but she only shook her head.

"No. He is not." She sat down next to him and put her contract on the table. "I am though."

"Well, that is always something. We have one burglar." The red-headed, grumpy-looking dwarf looked at her. "I am Gloin, if you need to know." She guessed he had gotten annoyed by her not speaking to him because of the fact that she did not know his name.

"It is nice meeting you, Gloin." She gave him a smile, earning one in return. She did not even ask about what he had meant when saying they still had one burglar. She was not a burglar if that was what he thought.

The dwarves spoke quietly to one another and Clara listened to their voices around her. Their low tones made her feel sleepy and she soon found her eyelids starting to fall close.

"Are you tired?" Kili looked at her and chuckled quietly. She nodded.

"It has been a long day. I should probably head to bed." She yawned.

"I believe you would regret it later, though." He gave her a mischievous smile and would not answer when she asked him what she meant.

When Balin and Thorin came into the room, Clara guessed something was happening. The old dwarf sat down and she handed him her contract, which he smiled about, but Thorin remained standing, leaning himself against the mantelpiece. He stared into the fire for a moment, before he started humming. The other dwarves quickly joined in.

So suddenly, Clara found herself surrounded by thirteen humming dwarves, all of them with serious expressions on their faces. When Thorin started singing and the others joined in, she could not do anything else but to just listen.

"Far over the Misty Mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To find our long-forgotten gold

The pines were roaring on the height

The winds were moaning in the night

The fire was red, it flaming spread

The trees like torches, blazed with light."

The song woke dreams of adventures and mysterious mountains in Clara's mind. It filled her with such a determination and bravery, that she almost could imagine herself battling the dragon on her own.

Of course, this was something she would never do or succeed with, but it was something that she imagined as the last tones of the song faded away.

"That was beautiful", she murmured, earning a few approving looks from the dwarves around her. They liked when people complimented their songs. "Beautiful and yet sad. I understand now why you are all so determined to get the mountain back. You need your home and I am going to help you get it." She let her eyes travel over the serious faces and she knew that they approved of her words. They had understood that she was serious about this.

"I am thanking you for that, Miss Walsh." To her surprise, Thorin was the one to speak. He met her gaze and a small smile formed on his lips. "I apologize for being harsh on you. I see now that I judged you before I knew what I was dealing with. I am honoured to have you in our company." He bowed his head slightly, before straightening back up and looking at the dwarves. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. It is time for us all to head to bed. We leave at first light." With that, he bid them goodnight and went out in the hall to find himself a place to sleep. Bag End had quite a few guest rooms and Clara knew they would all fit one way or another.

"I say goodnight too." She smiled softly and rose. "I hope you will all sleep well."

"Same to you, dear lady." Balin bowed his head and then urged the others to rise as well and follow him out in the hall.

For a few minutes, the house was full of whispering dwarves and heavy footsteps, as they found their ways to their rooms and made themselves ready for bed.

Clara, who already knew where to go, stayed behind and waited until the hall was almost empty. She was tired enough as it was and she did not need a crowded hallway to fight her way through.

"Goodnight, Clara." The voice rung out behind when she opened the door to her room and she turned to give Kili a smile. It seemed like he and Fili had taken the room opposite from her.

"Goodnight, Kili." The other brother looking out through the door at her, made her sigh tiredly. "And goodnight to you too, Fili."  
"Goodnight." Fili grinned and then disappeared inside, leaving the two of them alone.

"Was there anything you wanted?" When Kili didn't move, she looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, um, no." He bit his lip and scratched his chin. "I just wanted to say goodnight. So... goodnight." He looked up and met her gaze and she nodded, chuckling slightly.

"Goodnight." With that, she entered her own room and closed the door behind her.

Clara sat down on the bed and stared into the small fire that was going in the fireplace. The room was comfortable and warm and she knew she was going to sleep well. But something kept her from sleeping. She had been so tired before, but now when she had the chance to regain her strength, she just could not fall asleep.

Placing herself on the floor in front of the fire, she wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and sat there, staring into the red flames. It was calm in there and the house was quiet. No one disturbed her. She had the chance to think for a while, without anyone else talking to her. It was the first time since she had woken up in the forest, that this actually had been possible.

Leaning her head onto her knees, she kept her eyes fixed on the dancing flames. She wished that she somehow knew more about herself. All the confusion of not knowing, scared her and she wondered how she would really survive the trip with such a serious amnesia.

She sighed deeply and pulled the blanket closer around her. The warmth of the fire was slowly making her doze off again and she knew that it was really time for bed.

Raising from the floor, she suppressed a yawn and walked quietly across the floor. Blowing the candle next to her bed out, she laid down on the soft mattress and closed her eyes. Soon, she was in the land of her dreams...

_Author's note: So, here's yet another part. It's quite a short part compared to the last one, but I was not really sure about what to write to make it longer. I didn't really feel like putting the morning in either, since I want that to be a separate part. I'm currently working on the next part and they are finally setting off on their adventure :)  
I know I have been a bit slow with things happening, so if you find it boring with the slow movement of the story, then please tell me and I shall try and speed it up a bit. I just like adding parts that make it more living, instead of just writing gibberish without any real descriptions. So please tell me what you prefer. Thank you so, so, so much for reading! It means a lot! :)_


	10. Busy breakfasts

**Busy breakfasts**

When Clara woke up again the next morning, it was by the sun shining in through the small window. She blinked a few times and yawned, not totally awake yet.

Getting up, she ran her fingers through her hair and then braided it to keep it out of the way. The quest had not even started yet and she was already annoyed by her long hair. Good one there.

As she left the room, she found that she was the only one awake. Faint snores came from a few of the rooms and she guessed that the dwarves had overslept. Or decided to leave later.

Either way, she did not wake them. She just walked down the hall to the pantry and made herself a small breakfast, that she then brought outside.

Sitting down on Bilbo's bench, she looked out over the hills bellow. The sun was just rising over the treetops and the sky was turning deep blue. It was going to be a warm, but yet beautiful day.

Eating slowly, she watched as the village started to wake up. Hobbits came out from the houses and the sound of their voices rung out as they started their morning routines.

A few came walking by Bag End, giving the blonde girl some odd looks, but greeting her happily all the same. It seemed like no one had noticed the commotion of the dwarves the night before, for no one looked at the house in a way that showed that they were trying to sneak a peek of the beardy men.

Clara had just finished her breakfast, when she heard the sounds of deep voices inside and the slamming of plates and cutlery as someone set the table.

Rising, she gathered her plate and mug and headed back up the stairs and inside.

"Good morning, my lady." Balin, who seemed much happier than the night before, gave her a bright smile as she passed him.

"Good morning, master Balin." She smiled back, and watched as the dwarves moved through the house, preparing their own breakfast. She was quite happy she had already eaten, since they were all fighting to get the last of the food for themselves. The things that they did not find suitable for breakfast, was quickly packed into bags and sacks that was placed by the front-door.

"Clara, come sit down. We found something you might like!" Fili waved towards her from the table and she moved over there, giving him a quick smile.

"I have already had my breakfast, so I am sorry to disappoint you." She bit her lip and looked at Fili, Kili and Ori, who had been those looking at her expectantly.

"Then there is more for us." Fili smiled brightly and she nodded, quickly finding her way out into the kitchen to leave her dishes. She did not want to disturb them in their meal.

As all the dwarves got seated and started eating, she returned to her room and packed her things into her backpack. She had also received a few blankets from Bilbo the night before and she now made sure they got in before she tied the bag and had it ready.

So when she returned outside, with her shoes and cloak on, the dwarves were just finishing the dishes.

"Are you ready to go?" Balin looked at her and she nodded.

"As ready as I can be." Due to the warm weather outside, she did not wear her coat, but she had put it furthest up in her backpack to make sure she would reach it if it turned cold. "So I guess Bilbo is not coming?" She kept her eyes fixed on the old dwarf, as he shook his head.

"No, Mr Baggins will not be joining us, as it seems. We have left the contract and a message for him to meet us at 11 at the Green Dragon, but I do not think he will come." The dwarf collected a few of the packs by the door and they then headed outside.

The last dwarf out closed the door and in an ordered line, they headed down the road. Balin, Thorin and Gandalf walked in the front, talking quietly as they walked and after them came Bofur and Bombur, the brothers joking about something, while Bombur ate a piece of bread that he had brought with him from breakfast.

Behind them came Gloin and Oin, Nori and Dori, Kili and Fili and then Clara and Ori. The last two dwarves, Bifur and Dwalin, was talking in the heavy language of the dwarves and Clara, who did not understand it, therefore stayed talking to the brothers' before her and Ori.

"What is your language really called", she asked, guessing it would be good to know it before she tried learning anything of it.

"Khuzdul", Ori replied. "Bifur only knows that." She nodded.

"I have understood that. So I guess someone will have to translate for me if I want to talk to him." She smiled and Ori nodded.

"I believe all of us would be happy both to translate and teach you." This time it was Fili that spoke, turning around to look at her.

"I would be really glad if you wanted to take the time to do that." Clara slipped her hands into the pockets of her breeches and let her eyes travel over the landscape. She started to recognise the road Gandalf and she had used the day before and she knew they had about half an hour left until they reached the Green Dragon.

"Of course we will do that. It would be good for you to know it, too." Also Kili turned around and she met his gaze, smiling towards him.

"I suppose." She fell silent turned her eyes down to the ground. She did not know what to say after that they had finished that subject.

She noticed Ori falling back and joining Dwalin and Bifur, while Fili and Kili kept on talking to one another. She found herself enjoying being left alone for a moment. It was nice just walking there in the sunshine and taking in the day around them.

As they passed the houses of the hobbits, they received a few suspicious and nosey glances. Clara understood that most of them had lived quiet lives, without seeing anything like the company of dwarves before this day. So she could actually understand why they stared.

A few of the more courageous children and youngsters, were starting to shout things to the dwarves or follow them down the path to see where they were heading. But when none other than Clara stopped to talk to them, they lost their interest for the beardy men.

"Who are you?" A young boy with dark, curly hair, looked up at her. The green eyes shone of curiosity and she smiled at how brave he was. "Are you a princess? Or an elf?" He looked so exited about her reply, that she could not help but to chuckle slightly.

"Are you a princess?" A young girl, slightly younger than the boy and with blonde hair, stared at her with widened eyes.

"No, I am not. I am sorry to disappoint you." She smiled, resisting the urge to add "Not that I know of, at least." It would just sound stupid and the children would probably not understand anyway.

"Who are those?" The boy pointed towards the dwarves, who was quite far ahead of her already.

"Those are dwarves", she replied.

"What are they doing here?" The boy looked at her, his eyes showing great interest in the matter.

"They were here to get a burglar and to visit a party." She decided that it was best not to lie.

"Where are they going?"

"They are going to return home." She did not know if she was allowed to mention something about their quest, so she kept away from that. "They have not been home for a long time."

"I hope they will get home safely. And you too." The little girl smiled shyly and Clara smiled back.

"Thank you. I will tell them that." She straightened her back, realising that she had been leaning down to speak to the children, and then waved towards them. "Good bye." They waved back.

"Good bye, princess." Not wanting to spoil their happy little faces, she just waved once more, before she sprinted down the road to catch up with the dwarves.

The dwarves had in the meantime already reached their ponies, and when Clara returned to them, they were just putting the packs on their backs and mounting them.

"Clara, you will be riding with me again. The pony we intended for Mr Baggins is unfortunately too small for you. We will try and get one for you as soon as we reach the next village." Kili smiled down towards her from his pony and she nodded. The free pony that Bilbo was supposed to ride, was indeed a bit too small for her and the dwarves, but she guessed it was strong and would do good for their packs.

"So I suppose Bilbo is not coming?" She took the dark-haired dwarf's outstretched hand and then swung up behind him, in a more clumsy manner than she had intended.

"It is soon eleven, so I suppose not." Kili turned his head to look at here where she sat behind him and she could not help but to admire the brown in his eyes, when she found them so close to her own.

"That is a pity", she stated, as the row of ponies started moving. The road was leading them towards the same forest she had met the dwarves in the day before and she could not help but shiver at the thought of what could have happened to her if they had not found her when they did. "I quite liked him."

Kili, who had now turned forward to make sure he did not make his pony walk in the wrong direction, chuckled slightly.

"I believe we will be better of without him. He was quite a complainer." She gave his back a glare and then wrapped her arms around his waist, to make sure she would not find herself tumbling off. That would not be very fun for neither of them.

They rode for about fifteen minutes, the dwarves making bets about whether the hobbit would show up or not during the first five minutes, and then complaining about the journey to Hobbiton being a waste of time when no hobbit was seen.

The dwarves, murmuring to themselves about the hobbit and starting to tell one another to pay up, was suddenly cut of by someone calling out behind them.

"Wait! Wait!"

The entire company quickly stopped their mounts and when Clara turned, she found Bilbo running through the grass towards them.

"I signed it", he called, waving the contract in the air as he ran the last few meters.

He, breathing heavily, handed the contract to Balin, who looked at it through a pocket-glass. The silence lay heavy on the group, as he inspected the signature, making sure everything was fine.

"Everything appears to be in order", stated the white-haired dwarf and smiled again. "Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield."

The dwarves cheered, Clara joining in, happy about having the hobbit with them. She had actually been scared of going out on the quest without him. He had been such a great friend to her and she would have been quite lost without him.

"Give him a pony." Thorin, who did not look very pleased about the news, ordered this and then turned his own mount in the right direction.

"No, no, no, no, that will not be necessary, thank you, but I am sure I can keep up on foot. I have done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once..." Bilbo, trying to complain, was cut of by Fili and Kili riding up next to him and grabbing him by the shoulders, placing him on the copper-coloured pony that was chosen for him.

He looked rather lost, gripping the reins and holding them awkwardly. The hobbit did not like horses.

As they rode along, Gandalf joined up next to poor Mr Baggins. He was not happy about this. His pony nodded its head, causing the hobbit to get even more uncomfortable.

Clara, who was riding behind him with Kili and seeing what happened, could not help but to smile at how comedic he was looking. He had never been riding a pony before, that was easy to see.

"Come on, Nori, pay up. Go on!" Oin called out to the younger dwarf, smiling. He had been one of the few believing that Bilbo would actually show.

For a moment, all that was seen, was the dwarves passing small bags of money around and the pleased faces of those gaining some extra coins.

"What is that about?" Bilbo turned to Gandalf, his eyes wearing a wondering look.

"Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you would turn up. Most of them bet that you would not." Gandalf smiled.

"What did you think?" At the next question, the hobbit looked at the wizard expectantly. Gandalf hummed and waited with replying, until a sack was thrown to him.

"My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second." He chuckled and looked at the hobbit, who only sneezed violently.

"Oh, all this horsehair. I am having a reaction." He complained to himself, his hands searching his pockets for a handkerchief. When nothing was found, he gasped and then called out: "No, no, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We have to turn around!"

The dwarves groaned, as they once again pulled their ponies to a halt.

"What on earth is the matter", Gandalf asked and looked at the hobbit.

"I forgot my handkerchief", Bilbo said, causing more groans.

Bofur, who was once again trying to be friendly, pulled a piece of cloth from his jacket and threw it back to the hobbit.

"Here! Use this." Bilbo, holding the piece of cloth up in disgust, earned a few laughs from the dwarves, before Thorin told them to keep on moving.

"You will have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end", Gandalf stated. "You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you, the world is ahead!"

_Author's note: So, I've finished another part. I feel like I'm good at updating at the moment, haha. Well, I hope you're liking it at least :)  
If you have something you feel like commenting on, then please leave a review. Are the updates coming too often? Is the parts too long? Too short? What is good? What is bad? If you don't feel like leaving the answers in a review, then you're of course allowed to send me a PM! I love hearing from you, and the way you tell me what you think about the story doesn't matter :)  
Thanks for reading!_


	11. Sad stories

**Sad stories**

The rode for the majority of the day, only stopping shortly for lunch, before getting on for a few more hours before they set a camp for the night. Clara and Bilbo had both a hard time getting used to the hard ground, but was too tired to complain about it and during the next two days, they got used to it a bit more and barely felt the pain in their bodies when they rose every morning.

On the third day, they had been riding since the rise of the sun, through beautiful forests and fields. It did not take long before Hobbiton was far behind and none of the cosy hobbit-holes could be seen. Now only the wilderness lay before them, the mountains rising at the horizon like the teeth of a giant reptile. In the beginning, they had been growing bigger for every hour that passed, causing Clara to think that maybe it would not take that long time before they reached them.

But already the next day, she started to realise that this was not the case. Over night, it seemed like the mountains had barely moved an inch and she soon grew tired of the sight of their grey shape in the distance.

So when they set up camp on the third day on the edge of a cliff, Clara placed herself with her back turned towards the mountains, so that she would not have to see them as soon as she rose her eyes.

While Bombur prepared supper over the fire lit by Oin and Gloin, Clara helped Kili and Fili with the ponies.

They were all strong little ones, not looking at all as tired as Clara thought they would be at the end of a day. They merely stood there patiently while the two dwarves and the girl freed them from their equipment and gave them their supper. Not even then, they showed any kind of tiredness.

"I wish I was as persevering as the ponies", she murmured, as the hung the saddle of Gandalf's horse over a stone. "That would make everything easier." She yawned and gave Kili a tired smile.

"I do not think I would like you being a pony", he replied and met her gaze. "I prefer you the way you are."

Clara, blushing slightly by his words, looked down on the rocky ground and smiled to herself.

"I did not say I wanted to _be _a horse. I merely stated that they never seem tired and that I would love to be the same way."

"Though when you say it like that, you are actually saying that you want to be one of them", Kili protested. She could hear the smile in his voice and also saw it resting on his lips when she looked up at him.

"You are making me confused", she said and shook her head slowly. "I am too tired for this." He laughed at her words and gave her a friendly poke in the side.

"Which is why you want to be a horse, so that you will not be tired." He met her gaze, the brown eyes encouraging her to laugh, which she also did.

"Shut up, will you?" She rolled her eyes in his direction and then dropped her backpack down on the ground by a newly started fire and then sat down next to it.

"If you tell me a secret." He grinned and sat down next to her, leaning his back against the wall of the cliff behind him.

"How am I supposed to tell you a secret when I know nothing of myself?" She rose her eyebrows, the smile slowly falling from her lips as she remembered the amnesia. She hated getting reminded of it and all of the dwarves knew about it by now.

"I am sorry." Kili quickly turned his gaze away from her face and stared into the fire. "I did not think before I spoke." He bit his lip and frowned. He was always saying the wrong things in front of Clara, causing the smile to fall from her lips and the sadness to fill her eyes. He hated it.

"It is fine", she murmured, her fingers playing with the strap of the backpack while she stared into the fire. He realised that she probably wanted to be left alone and therefore fell silent, turning to his own pack and starting to take care of it.

So when Fili and Bilbo arrived to the scene a few minutes later, carrying bowls of stew, they found the girl and the dwarf sitting silently next to one another, not looking in the other person's direction.

"Here you go." Fili pushed one of his bowls into the hands of his brother and then sat down next to him, while Bilbo did the same with Clara.

"Thank you." Clara gave the hobbit a smile and lifted the small wooden spoon that rested against the edge of the bowl. "It smells really good", she then called out to Bombur, who smiled brightly towards her, already stuffing his own mouth full.

"How are you managing", Clara asked, swallowing the last of her stew down and then setting the bowl down on the ground next to her. That had really hit the spot.

"Fine, this far. But I am missing my hobbit-hole." The hobbit sighed. "Imagine sitting by that fire now and having a cup of tea after supper." He smiled, his eyes showing her that he was dreaming of his home.

"That would be nice, yes", she said, throwing a quick look towards the two dwarf brothers next to her, knowing that they were both listening. "Though I find this rather exciting as well." She pulled her cloak closer around her and leaned back against the wall. She was turning rather sleepy.

"That is understandable. You are a human, you have a natural thrill for adventures that we hobbits do not." Bilbo spoke slowly, yawning to show how tired he was.

Clara knew that his words was mostly for himself, since she knew he would not have come along on the adventure if it had not been for a 'slight thrill', as he had expressed it. Like Gandalf had said, he was a Took and according to the wizard, the Took-family was known for their adventurousness.

"Whatever you say", she said with a smile and pulled out a blanket from her backpack, putting it over her legs to keep them warm. Around her, the dwarves were starting to prepare themselves for sleeping. The long day had tired them all.

The darkness fell over the company and all of them slowly fell asleep. The only ones awake was the guards, their low voices barely heard in the night. It was all quiet, until a scream suddenly pierced the night.

The scream, startling a hobbit feeding his faithful pony an apple, and awakening Clara, was something that the guards barely reacted to and they only watched as the girl and the hobbit looked around them in shock.

Clara was finding herself still seated by the fire, with the blanket tangled around her legs and her heart beating furiously in her chest by the sudden surprise.

"What was that?" Bilbo came walking back silently from his pony, sitting down on the other side of the fire while looking around him in fright.

Kili, whom Clara had been leaning against while sleeping, and that was on guard with his brother, was the one to reply.

"Orcs", he stated slowly, just as another scream echoed through the darkness.

Clara, feeling a bit spooked by the screams, curled up close to Kili once again and let her eyes search the darkness, as if she was expecting an orc to stand hidden somewhere in the shadows.

The young dwarf shoot her a soft glance, his hand quickly grasping hers and giving it a gentle squeeze, as a way to comfort her. She met his gaze, a bit surprised by the sudden touch, but did not protest against it. It only made her feel safer.

"Orcs?" Bilbo's eyes widened and he looked around him once more, apparently not noticing what had just happened between the girl and the dwarf across the fire.

"Throat-cutters", Fili said, his pipe resting in the corner of his mouth, as he shoot Clara and Kili an annoyed glance. "There will be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone is asleep. Quick and quiet, not screams. Just lots of blood", Kili added. He threw his brother a look and the two of them laughed quietly at the hobbit's scared face. Also Clara felt a smile twitch in the corners of her mouth, even though she knew this was no funny business.

"You think that is funny?" The sudden sound of Thorin's voice, made them all look up and the laughs break of. The hard face of the elder dwarf told them this was no joking matter. "You think a nightly raid by orcs is a joke?" He glared at his nephews, who looked rather ashamed of themselves.

"We didn't mean anything by it", Kili murmured and threw Clara a quick look. The girl saw the regret in his eyes and knew he had not intended to offend anyone. Now it was her turn to give his hand a comforting squeeze.

"No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world." Thorin gave his nephews' one last glare, before turning around and walking of to the end of the cliff. Clara watched him stare out into the night and knew he must have a good reason to dislike jokes about orcs.

The sound of someone else moving, made them all look up, only to find Balin rising from his sleeping place and coming over to them. Apparently the screams had awaken him too.

"Don't mind him, laddie", he said softly as he sat down by the burning fire. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs." He cleared his throat and Clara understood that he was preparing to tell them something important. "After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first." The old dwarf paused for a moment and Clara lifted her eyes from his face, letting them travel the surroundings. Both Gandalf and a few of the other dwarves were now awake, listening quietly to the story. "Moria had been taken by legions of orcs, lead by the most vile of their race. Azog, the Desfiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King."

Clara, who found herself sitting even closer to Kili and clasping his hand tightly, quickly loosened her grip and dropped her gaze in embarrassment.

The image of the pale orc, holding the head of the dwarf king high in the sky, chilled her to the bone and she locked her eyes on the fire, as if trying to burn the image away, as Balin kept on speaking.

"Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us.

That is when I saw him. A young dwarf prince, facing down the pale orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield." Balin paused again, letting the image of a young Thorin battling the pale orc sink in. Clara guessed that this must have been how he had received his name.

Drawing a deep breath of the cool night air, the white-haired dwarf continued. "Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, no song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived." Balin drew a deep breath, like the memory of his lost friends were still too fresh and new for him to handle. "And I thought to myself then", the dwarf said, describing when he had seen Thorin after the fight, "There is one I could follow. There is one I could call king."

As Balin finished the story and Clara looked up, she found that the entire company was now awake, looking at Thorin where he stood.

The dark-haired dwarf turned, his eyes showing no surprise at the sight of his faithful friends. He seemed to have been more aware of the world around than Clara had thought.

"But the pale orc? What happened to him?" Breaking the silence, Bilbo looked expectantly at Balin, waiting for an explanation about what had happened to the foe of Thorin.

"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." When the reply came, it came not from Balin, but from Thorin, whom came walking back towards the fire, his voice dripping of bitterness as he spoke.

Thorin sat down, staring into the fire in front of him. The other dwarves soon returned back to bed, the sound of snoring soon came drifting through the night from Gloin and Bombur.

"You should try and get some more sleep." Kili met Clara's gaze, gently releasing her hand from his own. "There is yet a few hours till morning. Don't you worry, dear lady. No harm shall come to you, I promise." He smiled and she rolled her eyes, smiling as she did so.

"I am not scared if that is what you think. But you are right about the sleeping part." She suppressed a yawn and then got up from the ground, gathering her things to go find herself a free spot to sleep on. The fire was nice and warm, but she knew it was mostly for the guards, so that they would not freeze during their hours on guard.

Finding a spot near Gandalf, she lay down and pulled her other blanket out of her bag. It was colder here and she knew that it was better to be too warm at first than to wake up and be too cold later.

So after wrapping herself in her cloak and two blankets, using her backpack as a pillow, she was soon starting to fall asleep, to the distant sound of her own name being mentioned in the distance.

Watching Clara rise and walk of to find herself a place to sleep, Kili leaned against the rock behind him and let his eyes follow her. Somehow, he was sad to see her go, even though he knew she would probably sleep better that way. He and Fili still had two hour of guarding left and he knew they would only disturb her when they spoke.

"What you did was stupid", his brother suddenly murmured, also his brother following the girl.

"Excuse me?" Kili turned to look at him, his eyes slightly narrowed. In the corner of his eye, he saw Thorin watch them quietly, hearing every word that was spoken.

"To act like something was going on between the two of you." Fili took the pipe out of his mouth, looking at it and then knocking it against a stone. "We do not need her to go and fall in love with you, dear brother. Remember that she is a human, you are a dwarf. You do not even know who she is. She could be anyone." The older brother sighed, also he leaning back, his eyes fixing upon the hearth in front of them. "How do we even know the amnesia is genuine?"

Kili opened his mouth to protest, to tell Fili to stay silent and not go on the way he did, but Thorin spoke before he had the chance to.

"Now Fili, do not be like that. I see your point in all this, but I do not believe Miss Walsh to be a threat to us." The uncle looked at them, a slightly warning look in his eyes. "I will not have that, for I trust her and believe her to be a good addition to our company." His gaze went from Kili to Fili, before he continued speaking. "And I do believe things lay in our path that will cause all thoughts of love to be pushed far away. We have not yet come far and the road before us is long. Things will change and there is no need to make hasted accusations, nephew." Thorin now looked sharply at Fili, who bent his head down in shame.

"I am sorry, uncle", he murmured. "I was just trying to make sure we do not let our company get overtaken by a fair human maiden whom we do only know the name and the face of."

"Trust me, nephew, I would never let that happen." Thorin sighed, before pushing himself up from the ground to return to his bed. "Clara is a good girl and I trust her more than that hobbit. If there is anyone you should keep an eye on it is him." With that, he turned his back and went away to get some more sleep, leaving the two brothers to light their pipes in silence, their heads swimming with thoughts.

_Author's note: I have yet finished another part, as you may see, and I hope you enjoyed it! :) Since I have not heard anything about how you want the story to be, I have just continued writing the way I have done before. I also let Kili and Clara get some time interacting with one another. What did you think of it? Do you have anything that you want to comment on the relationship between them? Their characters? Anything else?  
Please, if you do have the time, do leave a review! I checked the statistics of the story today and I can't do anything but to thank you all! The amount of visitors is amazing! I'm really happy that you read what I write and I really hope that if you have anything you want to comment on or point out, that you then know that I'm always welcoming reviews and messages! Thank you so much for reading! It means the world to me!_


	12. Rainy roads

**Rainy roads**

The sound of a deep voice calling out "Breakfast!" and the smell of something burning, was what Clara woke to the next morning.

She sat up, running her fingers through her hair. Around her, the dwarves were all awake, packing their things and stuffing their mouths full of bread and the stew from the night before.

Groaning slightly over her stiff back, Clara rose and folded her blankets together, before putting them back in her backpack. It was better to be ready before breakfast, than to have to stress with the packing later.

As she walked over to the fire and sat down, her fingers braided her hair into her normal, single braid. It had turned into a habit now, since she only got annoyed by having her hair hanging into her face while they were on the road.

She accepted the bowl Bombur gave her and ate silently, watching as the dwarves spoke to one another.

"Slept well?" Bilbo sat down next to her, grabbing a bowl for himself and looking down into it with a deep sigh.

"Yes, I did actually." She smiled and tilted her bowl, scraping the last of her own breakfast up with her spoon. It felt like it was too little. "What about yourself?"

"The ground were rather hard and the snoring a bit disturbing, but I managed to get a few good hours of sleep." The hobbit shrugged his shoulders, before digging in to his own food. His tired face showed Clara that he was not happy about what he was eating. He would rather have anything else in the world.

As soon as everyone had finished their meal, they washed the bowls and everything else they had used and packed it back down in their bags, so that they could prepare the ponies.

The dwarves seemed rather happy and was singing in their deep voices as they made themselves ready. The songs were merry and none of the troubles from the night before could be spotted, as they sang of their home and the shine of precious stones in the light of the sun.

Clara almost felt like joining in herself, but since she was not as good as the dwarves at coming up with songs and remembering their concept, she kept her mouth shut and just listened. Besides, she did not even know if she could sing.

"Come on, get up. We need to head of." Thorin's voice rung out around them and caused the singing dwarves to stop and nod their heads. They knew they were now entering dangerous land and that they had to get going as soon as possible. They were already too close to the places that were packed with orcs and they had to get as far away as possible before nightfall.

So they all mounted and set off. Down the hills and into the valley.

Gandalf and Thorin rode in the front, making sure they were on the right way and keeping a look out for anything suspicious. The screams from last night still spooked their thoughts.

Clara, still riding behind Kili, was in the back. They had today's work as look-outs if anything came up from behind or the sides. It was something that barely happened and therefore, they did not have much to do.

Due to the lack of sleep and the slow rhythm of the pony, Clara soon started to get dozy. Her arms was firmly wrapped around Kili's waist and as her eyes started to fall shut, she leaned her head against the back of the young dwarf.

Kili, who also he was a bit tired after all his hours guarding, felt the slight pressure as Clara leaned against him and he could hear her slow breaths in his ear.

With a smile on his lips, he turned his head, only to find the girl already asleep and far away in the land of dreams.

"Sleep well, my lady", he murmured and placed one of his hands on her two around his waist and turned forward again. The least he could do was to make sure she did not fall off.

Clara had never experienced falling asleep on the back of a pony before and she had to admit it was an uncomfortable business.

When she woke up again, she found herself leaning dangerously to the right, with the arms clasped tightly around Kili's waist.

Every part of her body was aching and she groaned quietly as she loosened her grip from around the dwarf and brought one hand up to rub her eyes.

"How long was I asleep for?", she murmured, mostly to herself and released the dwarf from also her other arm, so that she could stretch them out.

"For about two hours, I believe." Kili turned his head slowly and grinned towards her. "I was quite amazed that you did not fall off." He chuckled and she concurred, meeting his gaze.

"I am quite happy about that, I must say." She smiled and shivered, as a cool stream of air hit her. Looking up, she found that the sky was dark-grey and rain was hanging in the air. She groaned. Just great. Rain.

Kili, who had heard the groan, turned his head slightly and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you not happy with something?" He smiled, already knowing what her reply was going to be. The other dwarves had already complained about the clouds while she had been sleeping and he was not very happy about it himself.

"The rain. I do not want rain." She sighed and wrapped one arm around his waist again. Not holding onto something had made her feel very unsteady and the ground bellow looked too hard for her taste.

Just as she spoke, the first drops came falling down and the entire company groaned in unison. The rain was not welcome and everyone wished silently for it to stop as quickly as possible.

Pulling the hood of her cloak up, Clara leaned closer to Kili and gave the dark sky a murdering glare. Something about it made her head hurt and it was like it was mocking her to remember something she could not grasp. It disturbed her.

They rode in the rain during the entire day, only stopping quickly under an overhanging rock to have some lunch and then continuing onward.

It did not take more than a few hours for all of them and their packs to get soaked.

This meant that when nightfall came and they made camp under a group of tall trees, there were no dry clothes to change into. Their packs were completely wet and the only things that seemed to have made it, was the food, and even that was damp in the end.

So the company was not a merry gathering that night. All of them complained and groaned about everything, none of them feeling like singing or brightening the mood. The seriousness of their quest had taken over and made everyone understand that this was not a trip of pleasure.

Clara ate quietly and then covered herself in her damp blankets. It was still raining and the drops fell from the trees all around them, making the forest filled with the sound of water.

With a deep sigh, she lay there and stared up through the branches at the dark sky. She wished for the stars to show again, for she had grown quite fond of the stars during the past few days.

She just loved laying on her back and watching them appear in the dark. It was something that helped her fall asleep and now when they did not, she almost felt a bit sad about it.

So that night, she instead fell asleep to the sound of the rain and the groans of the wet dwarves, something that she would trade for stars any day.

But she actually got her stars that night. About an hour after that she had fallen asleep, the rain stopped and left the guarding dwarves to in silence watch the clouds fade away and get replaced by the bright little lights in the sky.

So when Clara got woken up in the middle of the night, to take her turn as guard, she found her beloved stars up above, like she had wanted.

This meant that she did not mind sitting up for a couple of hours instead of sleeping like the others.

Instead she sat with her back leaned against a tree, with her blankets and cloak wrapped around her to keep out the chill.

Bofur, who was her guarding companion, watched amused as the girl stared up at the sky in amazement, her lips moving as she spoke silent words that was not for his or anyone else's ears.

He sat by the fire, softly smoking his pipe and looking out over the dark forest. He decided to leave the girl alone, for the look on her face told him that she was far away in her thoughts and that she probably was not in the mood for talking right then.  
So he kept his distance and stayed quiet.

What Clara was really thinking of, she barely knew herself. All she knew was that she had started to remember things that confused her and made her head hurt.

If it was her brain slowly remembering things by itself or if it was something else, she did not know and she did not want to think about it.

What she actually was remembering, were things that made her more confused than ever. She remembered faces, faces that she could not put a name to. A house, that she supposed was her own, and a forest, much like the one she had been found in, that was shadowed by thunderclouds.

She knew all this was important and that it was something that she needed to remember were it lay, but she just could not. It was annoying.

So after a few hours, staring up at the stars and trying to get something out of the misty memories, she gave up and rose from her spot to go sit next to Bofur. The warmth of the fire and the company of the dwarf, was welcomed and she was happy hearing another voice than the one in her mind talking.

"Are you all right?" Bofur took the pipe out of his mouth and poked the fire with a stick, causing it to grow in size.

The girl nodded.

"Yes. I just needed some time to think, that is all." She smiled and met the gentle eyes of the dwarf. "I am sorry for leaving you alone like that." Picking up an old branch, also she started poking the fire, making sparks fly up towards the dark sky.

"It is perfectly all right. Everyone needs some time on their own." The dwarf knocked the wooden pipe against the ground and then put it back in his pocket. He was not going to be impolite by blowing smoke into the face of the poor girl. "I just hope you got something out of it." He threw his stick into the flames and watched as they grew bigger, increasing the heath and smoke in the cold night.

"I cannot say I did." Clara sighed and stared into the flames, as if the answers to all her questions would appear in the middle of the hearth. "It is all a mess up here." She pointed to the side of her head and smiled. "I suppose that is what you get when suffering from amnesia." She chuckled slightly, showing the dwarf that she was not really that sad about it.

"I guess." Bofur shrugged his shoulders and suppressed a yawn with his hand. "What do you say, should we head back to bed? I believe our time is up." He threw one more stick onto the fire and then rose.

"That sounds good to me." Also Clara rose, gathering her blankets. "I will wake Balin if you take Bombur." The dwarf nodded and they quickly woke the next two guards, before both going back to sleep. A sleep they both needed.

The next two days also held rain, something that did not lighten the mood the slightest. That one night without it had been all and during the oncoming days, the sky was wide open, pouring rain down onto the poor company.

On the third day since the rain had started, which was almost a week since they had started out on their journey, they had had enough rain for a lifetime.

"Here, Mr Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori, having his hood pulled up over his head and a miserable look on his face, looked at the wizard whom rode in front of him.

"It is raining Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard." Gandalf, who was just as grumpy as everyone else, sighed.

"Are there any?" Bilbo, suddenly finding a subject that could bring his thoughts from the rain, looked up. His light-brown hair was hanging down into his eyes and he looked even more miserable than everyone else, due to his lack of a cloak.

"What?" Gandalf turned slightly, apparently away in his own thoughts.

"Other wizards?" Bilbo patted his brown-red pony on the neck and looked expectantly at the wizard.

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two Blue Wizards." Here Gandalf stopped to think for a moment, before he continued slowly. "You know, I have quite forgotten their names." He sighed and then fell silent.

"And who is the fifth", Bilbo asked, a bit curious.

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown." Gandalf smiled a bit to himself, proud he remembered something.

But the hobbit soon wiped that smile away.

"Is he a great wizard or is he... more like you?" Scattered laughter could be heard around the group and the mood was suddenly high once more.

"I think he is a great wizard in his own way. He is a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world." The wizard hummed to himself and turned forward again, to make sure they were on the right way and did not get lost in the mud. For that would be truly unfortunate.

_Author's note: So, hello there! :) I really hoped you enjoyed this part, even though I found it a bit slow. Though it was a necessary part to make sure the next one gets as long as it needs to be.  
Anyway, thank you so much to all of you who as read, favourited, followed or reviewed this story! I love all of you and I really hope that you like what I write. Otherwise, I wouldn't upload.  
I really hope that if you have something to comment on, that you do that, so that I get to know what you think. Cause if you find something you would like to change or get more of, then I need to know about it to be able to change it, you know :)  
So don't be scared to review!  
Also, at the end of the next part, I'm going to ask you some things about Clara. Cause I want you to help me to develop her character. So if you got any ideas about now already, then don't be scared to share them with me!  
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long ramble!_


	13. Shoot straight

**Shoot straight **

To everyone's delight, they only had these three days of rain before it stopped and the warm sun returned. Everything dried up and the landscape turned green and prosperous once more. The summer was in the air and the warm cloaks was only needed at night.

This cheered everyone up once more and under the beautiful sky, they could be heard singing as they rode. The deep voices of the dwarves, singing of their homes and their precious gold.

Everyone they passed heard them long before they saw them and when they passed through a few small villages, they got some odd looks. Not only for their merry songs, but also for their dirty appearance and sharp weapons. People in these parts did not often see other people and when they did, it was mostly just merchants and human travellers. Only the eldest had seen dwarves before and not even they remembered much about them except their fierce love of gold.

Clara soon found herself standing out against the group of dwarves. Many of those they passed, shot her worried glances and she knew they probably wondered if they were going to try and help or not. The way she was always riding behind one of the other dwarves, made it look like she was kidnapped and a few also asked her if she needed help, something she only shook her head about.

"I am merely a friend and companion. I thank you for your concern, but I am happy where I am", came her reply every time and the person whom had asked only shook his or hers head in disbelief and kept on going.

It was another sunny afternoon, when they arrived by a ruin of an old house. The sad, withered silhouette against the green grass and tall cliffs, gave Clara the creeps and she was rather surprised when Thorin decided that they were going to stay there during the night.

"We will camp here for the night", he called out as they rode closer and the tired ponies started to slow down, realising that the work for today was over. "Fili, Kili, Clara, stay with the ponies. Make sure you look after them." The two nephews and the girl nodded and dismounted as they reached their destination.

Clara, whom had been riding behind Fili during the last couple of days to cut Kili's pony some slack, stretched herself out and let her eyes travel their surroundings. The place did not feel safe. Something terrible had happened here and she knew it.

"We cannot stay here", she say and frowned, walking up to Kili and patting his brown pony on the neck. The dwarf nodded slowly, knowing what she spoke of.

"A farmer and his family used to live here." Gandalf had walked inside the ruin and looked around, feeling the same feeling of not being safe as the girl.

"Oin, Gloin", Thorin called out, not caring about the wizard.

"Aye", Gloin replied, looking up.

"Get a fire started", the leader called out and got a nod in reply.

"Right you are." The red-headed dwarf turned to his assigned partner and they quickly headed away to gather some wood from the forest close by.

In the meantime, Gandalf had finished his inspection and he now told Thorin exactly what he thought.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley." The wizard looked at the dark-haired dwarf, whom did not agree.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place." Thorin was clearly showing of his grumpy again.

"Why not", Gandalf asked, a bit annoyed by Thorin's mood. "The elves could help us. We could get food, rest, advise." His words gained some approving nods from the other dwarves, that were all quite hungry and longed for something that was not stew.

"I do not need their advice", Thorin murmured grumpily and glared at the wizard.

"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

"Help? A dragon attacks Erebor, what help came from the elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing. You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather and father." Thorin's words made everyone look at him, knowing that his hate towards elves lay just as deep as his hate for orcs, even though they all wanted him to forget it for the time being, so that they could get their rest and food.

"You are neither of them", Gandalf sighed. "I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past." The anger that the wizard felt could be heard in his voice and everyone understood that he was losing his temper quickly.

"I did not know they were yours to keep", Thorin said dryly, causing Gandalf to stomp of angrily, back towards his horse.

"Everything all right", Bilbo asked, where he stood next to Balin and his pony. "Gandalf, where are you going?"

"To seek the company of the only one around here who has got any sense", growled the wizard in an angry voice.

"Who is that?" Bilbo looked at the wizard, just as confused as everyone else.

"Myself, Mr Baggins! I have had enough of dwarves for one day!" The wizard quickly mounted his horse and before they knew it, he was gone.

"Come on Bombur, we are hungry." Thorin broke the silence by calling out to the big dwarf and with that, everyone returned to their duties.

"That went well", Clara murmured and earned an amused glance from Kili as he passed her, leading four of the ponies towards the trees.

The two dwarves and the girl worked quickly with taking care of the ponies and setting them free of their equipment and they soon found themselves seated on a rock, talking merrily.

"Should I go check on the dinner? I am hungry." Clara looked at the brothers and smiled brightly.

"Though Thorin _did _tell us to keep an eye on the ponies. All of us, so that means you cannot leave." Kili smiled mischievously and the girl laughed.

"You are right about that, but I am hungry and I will not wait until they have finished their meal and remembers us sitting here all alone." She rose from her spot and turned towards the golden glow of the fire that could be seen through the trees.

That was when she noticed a movement through the trees and the feeling of something not being right creeping up on her again.

"What is it?" Fili, seeing the girl stiffen and watching her turn towards the ponies, her lips mouthing the numbers as she counted the ponies.

"Two of the ponies are gone", she said slowly, causing both of the dwarf to rise from their places and join her.

"That cannot be", Fili murmured, also he counting quickly.

But the truth was staring them right into the face. There were only fourteen out of their sixteen ponies left in the glade.

So it was here Bilbo found them a few minutes later, when he came down from the ruined house, balancing three bowls full of soup in his hands.

"What is the matter?" He looked at them, seeing their stunned faces as they stared out into the dark, not taking the bowls he offered them.

"We are supposed to be looking out for the ponies", Kili said slowly, exchanging a slightly panicked glance with Clara.

"Only we have encountered a slight problem", Fili added.

"It is actually not that small", Clara said, clearing her throat to stop her voice from cracking.

"We had sixteen." The dark-haired dwarf swallowed hard as he spoke.

"Now there's fourteen." His brother did the same and all of them stared at the ponies quietly once more.

"Daisy and Bungo are missing", Kili said and started moving forward, examining the ground around him.

"Well, that is not good. That is not good at all. Should we not tell Thorin?" The hobbit made another try to shove the bowls into the hands of the dwarves and the girl, but none of them took any notice in this.

"Oh, no. Let us no worry him." Fili spoke quickly, his voice telling Clara and Kili that they had messed up big time and that their uncle was not supposed to know about it. Not yet at least. "As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it." The red-blonde dwarf gave the hobbit an expecting glance.

"Well, um..." Bilbo looked around, before spotting a few uprooted trees that the other three also had noticed. "Look, something big must have uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking", Kili replied as they moved towards the trees. Clara frowned and looked at them. How could they have missed that?

"Something very big and possibly very dangerous." The hobbit's voice shook slightly and Clara guessed he wanted to return back to the warm fire and just forget about it all.

"Hey! There is a light. Over there!" Fili nodded towards something that was glowing through the trees.

Clara had seen it too, but had only thought it was the moon reflecting into a pool of water or something similar.

Accompanied by a "Stay down" from the red-blonde dwarf, they moved forward slowly towards the light.

As harsh laughter was heard, they ducked behind a log and stared towards the light.

"It is a fire", Clara whispered, seeing the flickering light that created shadows in the forest.

"What is it", Bilbo asked, as the sound of voices and more laughter was heard.

"Trolls", Kili replied seriously, his voice causing a shiver to travel down Clara's spine. If it was by the deepness of his voice or the mentioning of trolls that caused it, she did not know, and she did not have the chance to reflect on it, as they started moving closer.

Bilbo getting behind, as he returned to collect the bowls he had left the log, only had seconds to throw himself behind a tree next to Fili, with Kili and Clara opposite them, before a giant troll walked past.

"He has got Myrtle and Minty!", Bilbo whispered, his eyes open wide as they followed the troll. "I think they are going to eat them. We have to do something!"

The troll disappeared in the direction of the other voices, carrying the two ponies. Clara could not help but to agree with the hobbit. They had to do something.

"Yes, you should. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid and you so small." Kili rose from his curled up position and looked at the hobbit expectantly.

"No!", Bilbo said in protest.

"They will never see you", the dark-haired dwarf continued, as he took two of the bowls and Fili taking the third.

"No, no, no." Bilbo shook his head and started to back away from the two dwarves.

"It is perfectly safe. We will be right behind you." Kili handed Clara her bowl and watched as his brother gave the hobbit a push towards the fire.

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl." Fili gave the hobbit another push and caused him to stumble out from their hiding, murmuring to himself.

What actually happened to the hobbit right then, Clara never found out, for she found herself being pulled quickly away from the light and back towards the rest of the ponies.

Behind her, the voices of the trolls slowly faded away in the distance, as the dark forest surrounded them.

"What are you doing?", she said and pulled her arm out of Kili's grip. "You cannot just leave him like that!" She put her bowl down on a log, not hungry any more.

"He will be fine. We will fetch the others and come back for him." Kili swallowed a spoon of his soup and grinned, his brother doing the same.

"Well, I will not leave him like that", Clara said and placed her hands on her hips. "What if they kill him?" She shot them a glare and then turned to return back towards the light.

"You cannot go there alone! You have not got any weapons!" Kili gripped her wrist and pulled her to a stop.

"That does not matter. I will not abandon him like that." Once again she pulled her arm away from him and met his gaze, a fiery flame burning in her eyes.

Kili exchanged a quick look with his brother, before putting his own bowl down and pulling his quiver and bow from his shoulder.

"Here, take this." He pushed it into her hands and she looked at them, stunned, for a moment.

"These are yours. I cannot take them." She tried to give them back, but the dwarf stepped away and avoided her gaze.

"Trolls are too big to get reach with a sword. Bow and arrow can help you cause a distraction so that Bilbo can get the ponies out." He smiled softly towards her.

"But I have never used a bow and arrow before", she protested. "I will only miss."

"It will still help you better than a sword." Kili took a quick step froward and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Just remember to believe in yourself."

"Oh." She met his gaze for a moment, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Shoot straight." He leaned down and pressed his lips against her forehead for a short moment, causing her to gasp in surprise.

And before she knew it, the two brothers had gathered the bowls and headed of into the night, leaving her alone to head back towards the trolls.

With her heart beating furiously in her chest and her hands putting an arrow on the bow, she moved quickly towards the light. She had to help Bilbo before it was too late.

_Author's note: Okay, so another part. In a try to keep these notes short: I hope you liked it and that you take your time to review if you liked it or got anything to comment on. Also, I would like you to go to my profile and vote for how you want Clara to be. This will help me develop her character and decide what to make of her. So please do that, thank you! :)_


	14. Tricking trolls

**Tricking trolls**

While Clara was sneaking silently through the forest, the hands holding the bow and the arrow trembling with fear, Bilbo was creeping towards the fire.

He had been rather surprised and scared when the dwarves had pushed him out of hiding and towards the flickering light and he had been murmuring Fili's instructions to himself for a moment, before turning around to check he was right, but then they had already left him, alone in the darkness.

The sudden feeling of anger and determination had started to fill him up and without further thought, he had started towards the fire, determined to show them all that Bilbo Baggins was someone to count on.

Bilbo crouched to the ground and moved towards the pen containing the ponies as quietly as he could. The loudness of the trolls when they spoke, made it quite easy for him to stay hidden, since they were all focused on the giant cauldron hanging over the fire.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow." A troll wearing an apron, looked down into the cauldron with disappointment.

"Quit yer' griping." The troll speaking was the one that had stolen the ponies. "These ain't sheep. These is West Nags!" He sounded a bit proud about this and Bilbo shivered, as his suspicions about them eating the ponies turned out to be true.

"Oh, I don't like 'orse", the third troll complained. "I never 'ave. Not enough fat on them."

"Well, it's better than the leathery old farmer. All skin and bones he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of me teeth." The troll with the apron stirred the liquid in the cauldron, looking rather pleased with whatever he was cooking.

As the troll wearing a west, suddenly sneezed into the cauldron and they started talking about if it might improve the flavour, Clara reached the glade and almost caused Bilbo to have a heart attack.

"Goodness, Clara", he whispered, after taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Where did you come from?" His eyes regarded the bow and arrow in her hands in surprise, but he choose not to comment on it, as he thought it unwise.

"I am here to help." She bit her lip and let her eyes travel to the trolls in the glade. "You get to the ponies and I will cause a distraction if needed, okay?" She shot the hobbit a quick look, showing him that everything was already set.

"That sounds fine with me." He nodded slowly and then turned back to the pen, moving quickly, as the trolls were occupied with the cauldron.

"Sit down!" The troll with the apron threw the sneezing troll down into his seat and shot him a glare. He did not need any more snot in his cauldron, thank you very much.

William, which was the troll that sneezed, pulled his handkerchief out and sneezed once more into it. He was annoyed by Bert, the cook, and the way he always protected his food so much. He had said himself the snot was 'lovely.'

Behind them, Bilbo had just reached the pen and was now trying to untie the ropes. They were too big for his small hands and the fact that he had to turn most of back to the trolls, made him feel uneasy. He never knew what they could do while he was not looking.

"I hope you're gonna gut these nags. I don't like the stinky parts." William, whom was starting to become hungry, turned towards the pen, only to earn a hit with Bert's ladle, as the cook was now tired of his attitude.

"I said sit down!" Bert stirred the contents of the cauldron, while William squealed by the pain.

"I'm starving! Are we 'aving horse tonight or what?" Tom, also he hungry, growled and glared and the cook.

"Shut your cakehole", Bert murmured crossly. "You will eat what I give ya." Beside him, William pulled out his handkerchief once more and sneezed loudly.

Bilbo, who was starting to realise that he was never going to get the ponies out before the trolls lost their patience, looked around for something to cut the ropes with. His gaze found a long knife, that hung from William's belt. It had been revealed when the troll had gripped his handkerchief and Bilbo knew that this was his only option.

Cursing the dwarves silently for not giving him a knife, he crept forward and ducked behind the troll. The knife was huge for the little hobbit and he knew that he had to be quick, careful and quiet to get it without disturbing the troll.

Across the glade, Clara was curled up behind a bush. Her eyes followed the trolls and the hobbit, preparing herself to cause a distraction as soon as it was needed. She was probably going to get killed on the spot, but she would have tried at least. And given Bilbo some help.

When the hobbit suddenly moved out from his hiding and hurried towards the troll with the handkerchief, she straightened up and watched him carefully. He had a plan and she could see it.

"How come 'e's the cook? Everything tastes the same. Everything tastes like chicken." Tom shot Bert a glare and William nodded in agreement.

"Except the chicken", he said slowly.

"That tastes like fish!" Tom grinned, causing Bert to snort.

"I'm just saying, a little appreciation would be nice. 'Thank you very much, Bert.' 'Lovely stew, Bert.' How hard is that?" He stirred the contents of the cauldron and tasted it thoughtfully. "It just needs a sprinkle of squirrel dung."

The troll patted the ground behind him, in search for what he needed, his big hand just missing Bilbo.

Clara, realising that the hobbit was close to discovery, rose slowly, just as the trolls started fighting over a mug of ale and Bert tasting his cooking once more, exclaiming a;

"Ohh, that is perfectly balanced, that is", before also Tom got to taste the food, while Bert praised his own cooking skills.

While this was going on, Bilbo was now standing right behind the troll with the handkerchief. He was so close to success, but still not yet finished. He had started to realise that it was going to be a hard business to get the knife from the giant troll.

Bilbo was so caught up in his own thoughts about how he was going to succeed, that he therefore almost missed Clara stepping out in the glade with the bow directed towards one of the trolls, the arrow aiming towards his eye.

"I am sorry to interrupt, kind sirs, but I do believe you have something that belong to me." From Bilbo's spot behind the troll with the handkerchief, he saw how Clara's hands were shaking furiously. He had to hurry up so that she would not do anything foolish.

"'Ey, Tom, look at this." Bert waved his ladle towards the girl. "We 'ave some company for dinner." He laughed harshly and Clara shot him a burning glare.

"I am _not _staying for, was it dinner you called it?, no. I am only here to retrieve my ponies." Her eyes quickly shot down to Bilbo, their burning look causing the hobbit to quickly straighten up and reach for the knife.

"Are you saying that, missy?" Bert shook his head slowly. "'re you 'earing this?" He looked to the other trolls, whom both chuckled in unison.

"I am not going to give you your nags, miss." Tom gave her a glare. "Me guts are grumbling. I've have got to snaffle something. Flesh, I need flesh." He clutched his stomach and Clara frowned in confusion. What was he going on about now?

"You can probably find some nice sheep or something around here", she said, her hands taking a new grip around the bow. "For I need those ponies, which means you cannot eat them."

"We always eat sheep. Nags are better." Tom was about to turn towards the pen, but William suddenly pulling out his handkerchief and sneezing violently, caused him to stop.

For William did not only sneeze. He also called out in fright.

"Argh! Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!"

It took a few minutes for Clara to understand what was actually going on, and when she did, there was not much she could do about it.

Resting in William's dirty palm, was not only his handkerchief, but also a snot-covered hobbit. Bilbo had been trying to get the knife from the troll, when the large hand had been coming back to grip the handkerchief and not only brought that, but also Bilbo. Now he was really stuck in the jam.

"What is it?" Tom looked at the hobbit in surprise.

"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around." William shook the handkerchief, causing Bilbo to fall to the ground before the three trolls.

He quickly got to his feet, soon finding Clara next to him and looked up at the trolls, scared for what was going to happen next.

"What are you then?", said Tom suspiciously, looking from the hobbit to the girl. He did not like the look of the arrow on the bow. "An oversized squirrel?"

"I am a burglar. Uhh, Hobbit." He spoke quickly, realising his mistake halfway through the sentence and correcting himself after stuttering.

"A Burgla-hobbit", asked William. Like the other trolls, he was a bit stupid and did not hear very well.

"Can we cook 'im?" Tom's growling stomach reminded him of that he was hungry once more, and he looked at the hobbit hopefully.

"We can try!" Suddenly, William's hand shot forward, trying to grip Bilbo, while Tom tried to get a hold on Clara.

The girl and the hobbit quickly spilt up, keeping themselves out of reach of the trolls. They were much quicker and made the trolls murmur in agony, as they all tried to be the first to catch the two.

Clara jumped out of reach for Tom's big hand and released her arrow from the bow pretty much just by surprise. The arrow pierced the shoulder of the troll, whom growled and tried to grip her once more, but she quickly moved away from him, sending another arrow towards William, that was chasing Bilbo. She was happy that they were all such big creatures, or else she would never have hit her target. She was not the best of archers, this she had found out now, but she supposed that practice makes perfect.

Moving away from the trolls, she sent another arrow flying. This one simply just hit the side of the cauldron and fell into the fire, not even making the trolls notice it.

"He wouldn't be more than a mouthful, not when he's skinned and boned!" Bert spoke loudly, apparently trying to get some sense into his companions.

"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits in these parts. Might be enough for a pie." Now it was Tom who spoke, his voice dripping of exitement.

"Grab him!"

"It's too quick!" Bert and William shouted at each other, as Bilbo dodged away from their giant hands and Clara tried to get a good aim at them with her bow. She did not succeed very well.

"Come on Bilbo, we've got to get out of here!" She called to the hobbit, trying to catch his attention, but he was too occupied trying to keep out of the mouths of the trolls.

Clara herself was so occupied trying to help Bilbo, that she did not keep her eyes open for the trolls, and therefore she suddenly found herself being lifted into the air in a smelly palm.

It was Bert that had gripped her, seeing the lack of attention in the girl, while Tom had succeeded in catching Bilbo.

"Come here you little...", he murmured, stretching his hand out towards the hobbit and shouting proudly when he lifted Bilbo upside down. "Gotcha! Are there any more of ya little fellas 'iding where you shouldn't?" The troll squinted at the hobbit, trying to make out something from his face.

"Nope", Bilbo said, slightly out of breath.

"He's lying!" William glared at the hobbit.

"No, I am not!" Bilbo looked quite offended and shot Clara a glance, his eyes calling for comfort.

"He is telling the truth. There are no more of us!" She spoke quickly, her heart beating furiously in her chest. They had to get out of there and warn the others.

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal!" William grinned and Tom nodded, apparently liking the thought.

Clara, suddenly seeing a movement in the bushes, quickly turned her eyes that way. If someone from the company would come now, they would ruin everything.

"I promise you, there are no more hobbits in these parts. I swear on my honour and all that is dear to me." She spoke loudly, making sure both the trolls and the person in the bushes would hear her.

But apparently, the person in the bushes did not hear, or did not care, for not far after that she had finished her sentence, Kili came running out into the glade. He cut William in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground, and then stood in the middle of the glade, looking proud over himself.

"Drop them!", he called, a smirk placing itself on his lips. He looked up, meeting Clara's gaze and receiving a glare in reply. She was not happy with him, this he understood.

"You what", asked Tom, looking at the dark-haired dwarf. His suspicions about more people had turned out to be true, even though it was not any more of those Burglar-Hobbits.

"I said, drop them!" Kili smirked and gripped his sword tightly. This was going smoothly, was it not?

When the trolls suddenly threw Clara and Bilbo at him, he was not ready and staggered backwards, falling to the ground under their weight.

"You bloody idiot", hissed Clara in his ear, as she pushed herself away from him. "You ruined everything!"

"So I suppose there will be no 'thank you' then?" Kili looked at her, a bit annoyed, as also he and Bilbo rose.

"No. We had it sorted." Clara picked up the bow and arrows from the ground, right as the rest of the company came rushing out from the bushes. The fight was a fact.

_Author's note: Hello, hello again :) Sorry for the long wait, but I have been away and school is taking up a lot of time. I'm currently having all final tests and I'm pretty exhausted at the end of the day. Got about three weeks left until summer, though, which is great.  
So, I hope that you liked this part and that you will leave me a nice little comment, telling me what you thought :) Your comments, favourites and follows makes my day!_


	15. Brave Bilbo

**Brave Bilbo**

While Clara and Bilbo had kept the trolls occupied, Fili and Kili had informed the company about what had happened. As they had suspected, Thorin was not happy, but he still agreed on that they had to work together to help their burglar and tag-along.

So while they had gathered their weapons, Kili had headed back to the glade to see if he could be of help, which it had turned out he could. When he had seen Clara and Bilbo in the hands of the trolls, he knew that he had to do something to keep them from killing his friends before the other dwarves joined him.

He had thought that what he had done would be taken with thankfulness from both of them, but that seemed not to be the case, as Clara shot him glares and told him that he had 'Ruined everything.'

But she did not have the time to be angry with him for long. The trolls were starting to get grumpy over their interrupted dinner and was trying to catch the mass of dwarves around them.

Kili was quick at joining his kin and he also saw Clara bring up his bow and aim towards the trolls. He could see that she had a good eye for it, even though she still needed some practice. Something he might be able to help her with.

Bilbo, being the only one without a weapon, did his best to keep himself out of the way. He was not feeling like being stamped on by one of the trolls or sliced through by any of the swords or axes around him.  
So he kept himself out of the fight, his mind working out how he was going to free the ponies without the trolls killing him while he did it.

Clara, starting to grow used to the bow and arrows, did her best to be helpful. She was not a very good archer yet and most of the arrows did not even do the trolls any harm. But at least they reached their goal, which was always something. Though she supposed that this also had something to do with the troll being such easy targets.

The dwarves around her ran around the trolls, slicing at their arms and legs, causing them to get even angrier and growl loudly. The night was slowly growing darker and it felt like the fight went on for hours, even though it was probably just for a few minutes.

"Clara!" Kili's voice ringing out behind her, caused her to turn, only to find the dark-haired dwarf standing mere inches behind her. He was breathing heavily and his eyes gleamed with the thrill of the fight. She could not help but realise how handsome he actually looked right at that moment. "Aim for the eyes." He spoke quickly, his sword gripped tightly in his hands.

"You do it. I will never hit it." She tried giving him the bow back, but he merely shook his head.

"I told you to shoot straight and that is what you shall do." He smiled and then he was gone, burying his sword in William's leg.  
She watched him move swiftly around the trolls, his kin all around him doing the same. They all now showed that they were not only miners. They were fighters. To the last dwarf.

Determined to show her worth and not to be a useless addition to the company, she raised the bow again and put an arrow on the string, pulling it slowly back. The sharpness of the tip glowed in the light from the fire and the stars and she switched her focus from the world around her, to the goal of her arrow. She had one try to hit the eye of Bert, the closest troll, and him moving only made it so much harder.

Taking a few deep breaths and making sure the arrow was directed in the right direction, she pulled the string even further back, before letting go of it. She was not expecting to hit, of course not. She was not an archer and what she knew, she had never held a bow before this night.

So when the arrow find its way straight into the eye of the troll, causing him to scream in rage and pain, she was very surprised.

Blood streamed down the cheek of the troll, the drops causing the fire to hiss and the dwarves to quickly back away. A few of them shot her surprised glances, but none of them said anything. They did not have the time.

For while Clara had been trying her best as an archer, Bilbo had gotten hold of William's knife and freed the ponies. He watched proudly as they ran of into the night and was just about to turn back to the fight, when a giant hand gripped him and lifted him from the ground once more.

He sighed, rather tired of being lifted up by now, and started down on the dwarves bellow. The trolls gripped his arms, holding him firm and glaring furiously on the intruders.

"Bilbo!" Kili started wide-eyed up at the hobbit, his sword ready for an attack. Next to him, Thorin glared at the trolls, his eyes showing that he was tired of this by now.

Kili and a few of the other dwarves tried to move forward to free the hobbit, but Thorin did not allow it.

"No", he called and held his hand up to stop them.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off." Tom, holding onto Bilbo's left arm and leg, glared down at them. Next to him, Bert nodded in agreement, blood covering most of his face, making it hard to see its features.

The dwarves looked expectantly at Thorin, waiting for him to call out to them, to make them attack the trolls and show their strength.

But instead, the leader merely planted his sword in the ground, his eyes dark by anger and regret. Why did the hobbit always have to cause trouble?

It did not take long, before they were all tied up. Their weapons rested in a neat pile near the fire and most of the dwarves were thrown in a pile, placed in smelly sacks.

The rest were tied to a spit, hanging low over the blazing fire, kicking and growling as they tried to get free. They did not want to get roasted alive, thank you very much.

Bilbo and Clara was also them tied up, but they had been lucky enough not to be roasted directly. Not that it was a good faith that either, really, but they supposed it was better than hanging over the blazing fire.

"This was just great", Clara murmured to herself, as she tried to get comfortable on top of the pile of dwarves. "Just bloody great."

"Shut up and lay still", growled Kili close by and she shot him a glare through the darkness.

"Shut up you."

"No, shut up you."

"No you shut up."

"Goodness Clara, just..."

"Hey, I was not the one ruining a perfectly good plan!"

"I am sorry! I was merely trying to save you from _death_."

"Yeah, and look where that got us!"

"Shut up!"

"No shut up you, Kili."

"God, can just not just keep your bloody..."

The two could have gone on for ages more, both of them rather stubborn, but Dwalin hanging on the spit caused them both to fall silent.

"Shut up both of you. Or I will skin you alive when I get off this bloody thing." He shoot them an irritated glance, before the spit was turned and he disappeared out of sight.

Clara turned her head towards Kili and find a mischievous grin on his lips, which she returned. They were foolish at times. Foolish and stuborn.

But their smiles soon faded, as the trolls started discussing the best way to cook them. After spending most of their night stealing horses, cooking, losing horses and fighting dwarves, they were now hungrier than ever and was craving for some good dwarf. They hated the race, but oh how good they tasted!

"Don't bother cooking them", said William. "Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly." He looked at the dwarves with a hungry look in his eyes.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." Bert's face was still covered with blood after getting Clara's arrow in the eye, but he was still determined to cook the dwarves in a proper way.

"Is this really necessary", called Dori from the spit and got a chorus of agreement from the other dwarves on the spit. But the trolls did not care.

"Oh, that does sound quite nice." William looked very happy about this and threw the dwarves on the spit a hungry glande.

"Untie us you monsters!"

"Take someone your own size!" Oin and Gloin called from their places in the pile. They moved in anger, and soon the rest of the dwarves joined in, calling out for the trolls to release them.

"Now it is your time to shut up", murmured Clara to herself and directed a kick towards Gloin, as he started pushing more furiously.

"Never mind the seasoning, we ain't got all night!", said Tom over the noise the dwarves made. Clara quickly hushed them, wanting to hear the words of the troll. "Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone." Tom was the grumpiest in the group now and his words was true, but also a help for their prisoners.

Clara turned her head and her eyes found Bilbo. The look in the hobbit's eyes told her that they were thinking the same thing. They had to keep the trolls occupied until dawn.

So this was why Bilbo soon called out and stopped the trolls in their cooking.

"Wait!", he called. "You are making a terrible mistake."

"You cannot reason with them! They are half-wits!" Dori called from the spit, causing the hobbit to sigh as he tried to rise from the ground.

"Half-wits? What does that make us?" Bofur growled to the other dwarves, causing them both to fall silent, as Bilbo finally got up on his feet and carefully jumped towards the trolls.

"Uh, I meant with, uh, with the seasoning." Bilbo looked up at the trolls, his eyes showing how scared he actually was. Scared but still very brave.

"What about the seasoning?" Bert looked suspiciously with his one good eyes, at the little hobbit before him.

"Well, have you smelt them? You are going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." Bilbo's voice grew stronger, making everyone in the glade hear it.

"What is he doing?" Clara heard Kili murmur beside her, his look showing her that he disapproved of what Bilbo was doing.

"Trying to save your sorry asses", she muttered to herself, as the dwarves started calling out that Bilbo was a traitor. Those around her in the sacks did their best to kick the hobbit, whom quickly moved out of the way.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" Tom had not yet forgotten the way Bilbo had let his carefully captured horses escape and he did therefore not trust him.

"Shut up", growled Bert and leaned forward so that he could see Bilbo better in the dark. "And let the flurgaburburrahobbit talk."

Bilbo looked a bit surprised about this and his face showed Clara that he was thinking hard of what to say.

"Uh, the secret to cooking dwarf is... um..." Bilbo choked on his words, frowning as he tried to find something out.

"Yes? Come on!" Bert tried to speed him up, a bit impatient.

"It's, uh..." Bilbo looked around himself in panic, knowing that he had mere seconds.

"Tell us the secret." The cook looked expectantly at the hobbit.

"Yes, yes, I am telling you." Bilbo almost jumped on the spot, clearly annoyed by how impatient the troll was. "The secret is..." He looked around him once more, knowing that their lives rested in his hands. "To skin them first!" His quick reply caused all the dwarves to complain even louder.

"Tom, get me filleting knife." Bert stretched his hand out and grinned widely. He liked skinning things.

"If I get you, you little..." Gloin moved in his sack, trying to get closer to the hobbit to kick him down. In the meanwhile, Dwalin scolded Bilbo from his place on the spit.

"I will not forget this!", he shouted and shook his fist where he hung.

"What a load of rubbish!" Tom, being the smarter of the three, was tired of the hobbit. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them I say, boots and all."

"'e's right." William nodded in agreement and shuffled forward towards the sacked dwarves. "Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf. Nice and crunchy." William leaned down and gripped Bombur by the legs, pulling the protesting dwarf up into the air.

"Not... not that one! He is infected!" Bombur, hanging upside-down over William's open mouth, and the others in the glade, quickly turned to the hobbit.

"You what", Tom asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, he has got worms in his... tubs."

William stared in horror at the dwarf in his hand and then quickly threw him back onto the pile of dwarves, causing them all to groan by the weight.

Clara just had the time to move to the side, before the fat dwarf crashed down on the place where she had just been and she took a deep breath of relief.

"In fact they all have!" Bilbo continued, his voice quick and rushed. He knew something the others did not. "They are infested with parasites. It is a terrible business. I really would not risk it. I really would not." Bilbo shook his head slowly, looking up at the trolls hopefully.

"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" Oin called from somewhere behind Clara and she realised he was not having his hearing trumpet. Not good.

"We do not have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili called out next to her in fury and she turned her head.

"Shut up, he is trying to get you out of this jam!" She glared at him, but the dark-haired dwarf ignored her.

"What are you talking about, laddie?" Gloin growled suspiciously. He knew something was up.

And it was then all the dwarves started to call out insults to the hobbit. Poor Bilbo sighed and rolled his eyes. They had clearly gotten a nasty blow to the head, all of them. Why could they not just play along?

But one dwarf had understood the plan. One that Clara never would have thought about.

From the back of the pile, Thorin had been keeping quiet, watching and waiting, as Bilbo tried to help them out. And he now understood that the hobbit was in need of his assistance.

Kicking the other dwarves in the back, the leader got their attention and they quickly understood what they had to do. So this was why they seconds later was shouting something completely different, confusing the trolls even further.

"I have got parasites as big as my arm", called Oin.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I have got huge parasites!" Kili was not going to be less bold.

"We are riddled!"

"Yes, riddled!"

"Yes we are! Badly! From the spit, came shouts from Nori, Ori and Dori, as they still were turned slowly over the fire. Sweat dripped from their faces, by both the heat and their slight panic.

"What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" Tom, whom was tired of the hobbit's tricks, was not fooled.

"Well..." Bilbo nodded his head in agreement. Letting them all go was a good thing.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!" Tom looked at the other trolls, while Bilbo felt rather insulted.

"Ferret", he asked, offended.

"Fools?" Bert squinted with his one good eye at Bert.

What would have happened next if the trolls would have been allowed some more time, was never found out. For at that moment, a tall figure showed up on a large rock, splitting it in half as he called:

"The dawn will take you all!"

"Who's that", asked Bert.

"No idea", said Tom, not really caring.

"Can we eat 'im too?" William licked his lips in hunger, but his question was never answered.

For the split rock was making the first, glowing rays of the morning sun into the glade. And with them, came the end of William, Bert and Tom. For they were now nothing more than trolls of stone.

Over the sound of chirping birds and cheering from the dwarves, came Dwalin's complaining voice.

"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" Clara could not help but to laugh in relief. They were free.

_Author's note: So, I'm truly sorry for how delayed this part is. But due to tests, I have been really busy and not really had the time to write. But I finally got the time and won over my writer's block, and finished this. I really hope you will like it and I hope that you leave a review if you do! (You're of course allowed to leave a review if you don't like it too, though)_


	16. Fluttering feelings

**Fluttering feelings**

Gandalf did not delay with helping the company and they therefore soon found themselves back on the ground and out of sacks.

Clara stretched her sore limbs and watched as the wizard hit one of the trolls in the head with his staff, as if checking if it was really made of stone and not all just a trick.

"Thank you for saving us, Gandalf." She smiled and watched as the dwarves started to retrieve their weapons and arm themselves once more. "I thought we were toast for a moment there."

"At least we almost were." Dwalin growled, overhearing what she said as he passed her. Clara merely shot him a grin. Now afterwards, they were probably all going to be able to joke about the situation. Or so she hoped anyway, for the dwarves on the spit had really looked rather stupid where they had been hanging. Kicking and screaming insults.

The thought caused her to smile and she quickly bent her head down to keep it hidden. The dwarves was not in the best of moods just yet.

"I am glad to be able to help, dear." Gandalf smiled and then turned his concentration to Thorin, whom looked much like himself once more. Grumpy and serious.

"Where did you go, may I ask?", said the dwarf and frowned, shooting Clara a quick look. She understood that the conversation was not for her ears and she therefore moved over to the others.

The dwarves were now all armed and spoke silently of the night that had passed. They were all both hungry and tired and would have loved for some sleep and a good meal. But no sleep was there going to be, but food was something they could handle.

A group of dwarves was sent of to go gather their things from the old farmhouse and bring the ponies, while the rest cleared up around the fire in the glade and started to get some heat back into it.

So before an hour had passed, they were all full and happy once more. Now all they had to do was to get of for the next part of their journey.

"I wish we could just stay here and sleep today." Clara yawned, where she sat, leaning against a tree. Next to her sat Kili and Fili, both smoking their pipes.

"That would have been excellent." The dark-haired dwarf knocked his pipe against the ground and blew out some smoke. "I believe none of us are fit for travel right now." He looked around them and she nodded slowly. Gandalf and Thorin had started wondering about where the trolls could have come from and therefore transported the company to a valley, covered with high trees and soft moss and grass. It was a great place to sleep at, according to most of them.

"I'm not, at least." Clara yawned once more and closed her eyes. The sun warmed her face and she knew she could doze of at any moment.

"If not, you can always sleep while we ride." Fili spoke slowly, causing the girl to open her eyes.

"I have done that mistake once, I am not doing it again." She grinned towards him and he chuckled.

"I remember that you looked rather peaceful. Not to mention that my brother was there to look out for you." Next to her, Kili blushed and bent his head down so that his long hair covered his face.

"Yeah, and I was just so sore afterwards. No thank you. I am never doing that again." She rose from the ground and stretched herself out. Thorin, Gandalf and a few other dwarves was getting ready to visit the troll-cave and she had decided to join them. Who knows? Maybe there could be something interesting inside that smelly thing?

"We will have to see about that." The brothers exchanged a mischievous glance and she rolled her eyes, before turning her back to them and heading down to the others.

"Oh, what is that stench?" Nori spoke everyone's mind, as they entered the big cave. Clara put her hand over her nose in disgust. The smell was really terrible and she felt rather nauseous.

"It is a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch." Gandalf looked severely at the dwarves, causing them all to look at the things in the cave suspiciously.

Clara looked around, her eyes sweeping over the gold, weapons and rotting food. Most of it was covered in spider webs and dust and the food was full with mould. Disgusting was an understatement.

"Seems a shame to just leave it lyin' around. Anyone could take it," Bofur's voice rung out behind her and she turned to see the dwarves look hungrily at the gold.

"Agreed." Gloin grinned. "Nori, get a shovel." Rolling her eyes at their greed, Clara turned her back once more and kept on walking deeper into the cave together with Thorin and the wizard.

"These swords are not made by any troll." Thorin had found two long swords, lifting them from a stand. He gave the longer one to Gandalf and studied the one he kept suspiciously.

"Nor were they made by any smith among men."

Clara watched as the wizard studied his sword, blowing dust and spider webs off it, as she pulled it out a few inches. "These were forged in Gondolin by the High Elves of the First Age."

At Gandalf's words, Thorin looked at the swords in disgust and held his like it was a very nasty beetle. He started putting it back, but Gandalf stopped him with another sentence. "You could not wish for a finer blade." The dwarf lord did not look very pleased, but he still kept the sword.

Behind them, the dwarves were filling a chest with gold, preparing to bury it in a hole. Dwalin shot them a look in disgust, which Gloin noticed.

"We are makin' a long term deposit." Dwalin merely sighed at this.

"Clara, we are leaving. Arm yourself." Gandalf looked at the girl and she nodded, looking at the stands and piles of weapons. How was she going to choose?

"What should I take?" She looked up at the wizard, whom thought for a short moment.

"Take a sword that is easy to carry and a bow. I saw that you had quite a skill for that and another archer would not hurt." His words made her blush and she returned her eyes to the weapons.

A slim bow and a quiver full of arrows, caught her gaze and she lifted it from a stand. Brushing the dust off it, she studied in the faint light. It seemed good and almost the size of Kili's.

From the same stand, she took a nice sword and then returned to the wizard.

"Will these do", she asked and got a nod in reply.

"Let us get out of this foul place." Thorin called out and caused everyone to stir. Clara was the one that moved first and was soon followed by the dwarf lord and his folk. "Come on, let us go! Bofur! Gloin! Nori!" Thorin's voice rung out behind them and they soon found themselves back out in the clear sunlight.

"I see that I am no longer the only archer around here." Kili's voice in her ear, caused her to jump and she looked up quickly, only to meet his gaze.

"Are you sad about this?" She grinned, as she started to empty the quiver and brush the dust of the fine arrows.

"I cannot say I am." He took the bow from her and started to clean the smooth wood, while she continued with the sword. The blade was unharmed and shone brightly in the sunlight, but both the handle and the sheath was covered in a thick layer of dust and it took quite a few minutes before she could strap it to her waist and then study the sharp blade of the sword. "You look like a real warrior now." Kili's voice interrupted her studying and she looked up at him once more.

"Just like you." She smiled and he handed her the bow and quiver.

"Just like me." He smiled back and she felt her cheeks burn by the blush that covered them. What was really going on with her? She could not be in love with him, could she? No, of course not. He was merely her friend. A very good friend, yes, but nothing more than that.

But still, why did butterflies stir in her stomach as their hands met when she took the bow and arrows from him? And why was his smile making her so weak?

Shaking her head slowly, she strapped the quiver and bow to her back. She had to stop this nonsense once and for all. She had to really make sure of that.

"Something is coming!" Thorin's sudden call, caused everyone to jump. They had been busy talking about the cave or, in Clara's case, cleaning their weapons, that they had not paid very much attention to their surroundings.

But now they could all hear something out in the forest. Something that was moving fast towards them.

"Stay together! Hurry now, arm yourselves." Gandalf quickly urged them to move back to the little valley and their horses and it did not take long before they were all gathered.

Clara pulled out her sword, almost a bit exited about the fact that she might be allowed to use it for the first time, and positioned herself near her backpack and a few of the other dwarves.

They all stared around them, trying to define from where the sound was heard, but it was hard, seeing as it echoed through the forest.

So this was why everyone jumped when suddenly an oddly dressed man, riding a sleigh pulled by rabbits, jumped out through a bush and in among them.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" The man jumped off his sleigh and stared around him, his eyes wild and fierce. The dwarves would probably have attacked him, if it had not been for Gandalf.

"Radagast!", called the wizard in surprise. "Radagast the Brown. What on earth are you doing here?" Radagast turned to the grey wizard, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong." While the company lowered their weapons and watched the two wizards, for Radagast was a wizard, the Brown one tried to remember something important.

"Yes?" Gandalf looked at him under his bushy eyebrows, waiting for him to continue.

Radagast opened his mouth, preparing himself to speak that one important thing. But nothing was heard. Instead he shut his mouth once more and frowned.

"Oh, just give me a minute", he said slowly. "Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I have lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue." He frowned once more, before he suddenly gasped in surprise. "Oh, it is not a thought at all." Radagast opened his mouth, revealing something to Gandalf the rest could not see. "It is a silly old..." Gandalf gripped the thing in his mouth and dropped it in Radagast's palm. "...stick insect!" Radagast looked at the insect, surprised. Clara could not help but to wonder how on earth it had come to end up there without the wizard noticed it, but she choose not to ask about the matter.

Gandalf nodded quickly towards the company, whom all looked rather irritated, and then moved away together with Radagast to speak privately.

As they went, everyone dropped their weapons and engaged in their own conversations. They knew there were no use in waiting around for the two wizards, for it could take hours for them.

Clara threw herself on the ground and rested her head on her backpack, as she stared up through the branches high above. Oh, how she wished she could get a few hours of sleep. She guessed she had not slept for at least 36 hours and it was starting to wear her out. And the soft moss underneath her did not really help.

Kili, standing a few meters away, saw how the girl's eyelids started to drop and smiled to himself. He knew humans wore out easier than dwarves and felt quite sorry for the lack of sleep she had had during the past few days. Not to mention all the fear, excitement and fighting they had gone through. He was rather tired himself, but probably not like her.

Feeling a pair of eyes burn into his back, he turned only to find his brother and uncle watching him. He sighed. They knew what his thoughts was all about and he knew they did not like them. Especially not Fili. Thorin had been a bit more acceptive, but his dark look told him that he had had more than enough by now. It would not take long before he was going to do something about it. Kili was sure of it.

Sighing once more, he sheathed his sword and turned his back to his relatives. If he did not have that much time left, he guessed he just had to make the most out of it.

Taking the few steps he needed, he seated himself on the ground next to the girl and pulled his knees up to his chest. The rustle of leaves, caused her to open her eyes and he smiled as she suppressed a yawn with her hand.

"Tired?" He met her gaze as she sat up and nodded.

"Duh." She ran a hand over her face and yawned once more. "What does it look like?" She laughed softly and he joined in, stretching his hand out to pluck a leaf out of her hair. The movement caused her to turn her head and they locked eyes for a moment, brown meeting blue, before they both looked away, cheeks coloured red.

What they were doing, did not go unnoticed and Fili snorted as he saw the red colour appear on his brother's cheek. This was ridiculous. It could not go on for much longer and every sensible person knew that.

Straightening up, he prepared to walk over and interrupt the moment between the two, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Let them be, nephew." Thorin's voice showed him that he was not happy either, but that he knew something Fili did not.

"But we cannot let it go on." Fili threw the dwarf and girl a look, as they spoke happily to one another.

"I know. But let them be for now. I will make sure nothing more develops from it." Thorin patted Fili's shoulder and sighed. "Kili got other things that needs his attention. This will be over before long." Fili nodded and turned his eyes back to his brother. Something told him that it was already too late and that there was nothing they could to stop it. The fire was lit.

_Author's note: So, firstly I just want to say thank you for your lovely reviews! They make me smile every time and I just feel like writing when I see them. Secondly, I really hope you liked this part. I was a bit unsure about if I was going to let Clara and Kili interact the way they did and let their feelings towards one another be so strong so soon, but I thought I could take a chance. I would really love if you liked it this way, or if I should do it in any other way :) Other opinions on the story in general, any of the characters or similar things, are of course really appreciated! :) Thank you!_


	17. Offensive orcs

**Offensive orcs**

For how long the two wizards actually spoke, no one knew. They kept their distance and did not consult the dwarves the slightest. Their conversation was not for any other ears but their own.

The dwarves spoke among each other, while they packed their things and made sure they had everything for the next part of their journey. The food storage had become much smaller during the last couple of days and they knew they had to find somewhere to refill it. Otherwise, their journey would not last much longer.

"Do you think they will be done soon?" Clara closed her backpack and turned to look at Kili. The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"I have no idea. All I know is that they are wizards and they can go on for ages." He picked up his pipe and turned it his hand, studying the soft wood.

"I guess." She yawned and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She just wanted to sleep. Was that too much to ask?

"Hey, if you are so tired, sleep a little. I will make sure no harm comes to you." Kili smiled, as he put the pipe into his pack.

"I don't want to be of any trouble." Clara bit her lip and shoved a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

"You are not, I promise." Kili pulled her backpack to him and leaned it against his leg, so that it would make a good pillow for her.

"Are you sure?" She laid down, placed her head on the backpack and looked up to meet his gaze.

"Hundred percent." He smiled and placed a finger on each of her eyelids, closing them carefully. "Go on, sleep." She felt his hand on her forehead and took a deep breath, as she started to close out the world around her. She was thankful for Kili's offer. She really was.

But Clara never got to sleep. Mere seconds after that she had laid down, a howl pierced the forest, making everyone bolt up on their feet and grab their weapons.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked the question everyone was asking themselves, as they stared around them. "Are there..." The hobbit swallowed hard. "Are there wolves out there?"

"Wolf? No that is not a wolf." Bofur spoke slowly, a warning resting in his voice. His voice told them all that he knew what was coming.

Clara turned quickly, her hands gripping her sword. She was still rather confused by the sudden turn of events, seeing as she had been preparing to sleep only a minute ago, and was staring in every direction to find the source of the howling. It did not take long.

Without warning, a giant, grey creature jumped into the middle of the group and knocked a few of the dwarves over. It snarled, a set of huge, sharp teeth shining in the sunlight, and let its yellow eyes travel over the company.

But before it really had any time to do anything, Thorin raised his new sword and killed it on the spot.

Though it was not alone. Of course not. In the opposite direction, came a second, snarling as it tried to attack the dwarf lord and his kin. But it did not succeed. One of Kili's arrows brought it to the ground, and as it tried to rise, Dwalin brought it the killing blow with his axe.

"Warg-scouts!" Thorin breathed heavily, as he pulled his sword out of the beast before his feet. "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?" Bilbo looked quickly around the glade, his eyes darting from tree to tree, as if he was expecting an ambush.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf and Radagast had hurriedly returned to the company, and the grey wizard spoke quickly as his eyes found Thorin.

"No one." Thorin looked at the wizard, his eyes showing that he was telling the truth.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf clearly did not believe the dwarf.

"No one, I swear", said the dwarf, almost a bit desperate. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted." Gandalf gripped his staff and frowned, showing how serious the situation was.

Clara felt a shiver travel down her spine and she sheathed her sword, knowing that it would be too clumsy to use if they had to run.

Instead she pulled out her bow and then shouldered her backpack and quiver. Next to her, also Kili gripped his bow and they exchanged a quick look.

"We have to get out of here." Dwalin changed his grip on his axe, causing everyone to stir and start to get ready for leaving.

"We cannot! We have no ponies; they bolted!" Ori's sudden scream from above, caused them to look up and they all realised that they now had no chance to get away.

"I will draw them off." Radagast grinned and everyone turned to look at him.

"These are Gundabad Wargs. The will outrun you." Gandalf threw the brown wizard a worried look.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits." Radagast smiled mischievously and gestured towards his sleigh pulled by rabbits. "I would like to see them try!"

Watching the wizard disappear in the distance on his sleigh, the company quickly gathered their few things and set off. Gandalf led the way, his new sword and his staff in his hands as he took them through the trees and bushes.

It did not take many minutes, before more howls pierced the forest and they heard heavy paws hit the ground some distance away. Radagast was doing a fine job, drawing the orcs away.

The forest soon ended and they found themselves at the beginning of a moor, covered in long, yellow grass and big boulders. In the distance, they saw the sleigh, hunted by a pack of wargs and orcs.

"Come on!" Gandalf waved at them and made them sprint out from behind a boulder and over the plain towards another. They had to be quick to make sure the orcs did not see them.

Clara kept herself close to the hobbit, knowing he was one of those that could easily bolt and panic. Not to mention that he gave her faith and that she felt so much braver with him around. He always wanted to act so grown up and stiff, but he had shown her that he was actually very bold and brave. Like she wanted to be.

Her thoughts had caused her to lose focus on what was happening and she suddenly found herself being pulled in behind a rock by Fili, stumbling by the shock as she did so.

"What are you doing?" Fili met her gaze, his hand still clutching her shoulder after saving her from being spotted. "This is _not _the right time to dream about my brother." The hard look in his eyes, caused the girl to frown and she quickly stepped away from the dwarf.

"For your information, that was not the case." She shot him a glare and kept her voice down, knowing that talking could blow their cover. "As of 'dreaming of your brother', I would prefer if you would confront me about the matter when we are _not_ hunted by orcs." She gave Fili one last glare, before she turned her back to him and sprinted of behind Thorin and Gandalf, as they set of towards another group of rocks. She was not going to let Fili get them all killed, just because he disliked her.

Crouched behind Thorin, she watched the orc pack, with Radagast mere meters before it, travel by and she knew that the brown wizard was soon going to be forced to give up. The wargs were really fast and his rabbits was not going to be able to keep them on a distance for much longer.

"Ori, no! Come back!" The young dwarf had not seen how close the orcs had come and had started to run out from their cover, only to be pulled back by the dwarf lord.

Clara gripped Ori's shoulder and pulled him down next to her, as he stumbled backwards in shock and he shot her a thankful smile. She could see he was not used to this kind of things.

"Are you all right?" She met his gaze and he nodded, clutching his slingshot nervously.

"I... I think so." He swallowed hard and watched as Gandalf once more started of over the plain and rose to continue.

"Be careful." Clara smiled and got up, following the wizard, her bow and an arrow clutched in her hand. Something told her that she was going to need it.

Like Clara had predicted, the wargs soon started to catch up on the wizard and as they realised that he was not a part of the company, they started to look for the dwarves.

One warg soon found their scent the air, and as it turned, the company quickly hid behind a rock and waited in silence as the heavy paws closed in on them.

Clara held her arrow on the string, her eyes placed on Thorin as the sound of the orc and warg was heard on the rock above them. Thorin and Kili exchanged a quick look, and as the younger pulled an arrow out from his quiver and stepped out from hiding, she followed and soon two arrows flew through the air towards the pair above.

The warg and the orc, both hit by an arrow each, came tumbling down and the company quickly finished them off, the sounds of the fight echoing over the quiet landscape. There were no longer any doubt about where the dwarves were to be found.

Gandalf, hearing the sounds of the turning pack in the distance, quickly started running again, his eyes searching for a hiding place. He knew exactly where to go, all he needed was to find the entrance...

"Move. Run!" The wizard urged the company forward and they all started running once more, breathing heavily by the lack of air in their lungs.

"There they are!" Gloin called out, making everyone realise that they were starting to get surrounded. The fight was once more a fact.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf urged them forward once more, his eyes scanning the surrounding boulders. He knew that the entrance had to be close by and that it was their only chance to survival. Without it, they would all die out here on the grassy plain.

Clara, keeping herself close to Bilbo once more, saw the scanning eyes of the grey wizard and knew that something was going on. He had a plan that he had not told them about.

"There is more coming!" Kili's call, caused them to halt, realising that they were stuck. In every direction, they saw the running forms of orcs and wargs, and they knew that there were no other choice than to fight.

"Kili! Clara! Shoot them!" Thorin called out, causing the dwarf and girl to quickly pull out new arrows and direct them towards the foes. They knew that they, being the only ones with weapons that could hit on a long distance, could make sure the wargs did not get too close.

But it was hard work for only two people. Kili, being the more experienced, brought a few down and Clara did her best to do the same. The trolls had been totally different targets to hit, seeing as they were so big, and the distance to the pack did not make it much easier.

But still, she got a few good hits, and as the minutes passed, she felt herself hitting better and quicker for every second. Some old memory had stirred inside her and she knew in a way, that this was something she knew by heart.

"Where is Gandalf?" Kili, lowering his bow and starting to back away a bit, made everyone realise that the grey wizard had disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen, something that no one was happy about.

"He has abandoned us!" Dwalin growled, gripping his axe tightly as also he started to back.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin had now brought out his sword, his eyes dark by the anger he felt towards the orcs. That Gandalf had abandoned them, was something that worried him, but that he had no time to really think about.

"This way, you fools!" The voice of the wizard was suddenly heard, and as the company turned, they found Gandalf looking out from a crack in a boulder.

"Come on, move!" Realising that this was their only chance, Thorin quickly urged the company towards the crack. "Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!" Watching the dwarves disappearing, he turned, only to find his dark-haired nephew and Clara still shooting at the wargs and orcs. "Kili! Clara! Run!"

Clara turned, seeing Kili sprinting past her. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest and she held her bow tightly in her hand. She knew that she had to leave, but at the same time, she wanted to give her friends some time. The orcs was going to get to that crack anyway and the least she could do, was to give them some time to find a way out.

Seeing Kili and Thorin being the last two to disappear, she turned back towards the orcs and raised her bow once more, and arrow pointing towards the closest of them. This was probably going to be the death of her, seeing as there were still orcs all around her, but she had to help.

Sending the arrow flying through the air, watching the orc fall to the ground, she heard the sound of a horn in the distance. Her focus shifted and as she raised her head to look for the source of the sound, she felt a burning pain go through her first. First the side of her stomach, then the side of her head.

Falling to her knees, she looked up, only to find an orc looking down on her from his warg, his long sword lined with drops of her own blood. As he raised it again, spots started to dance in front of her eyes and she felt tears fall down her cheeks. This was it. It was now she was going to die.

To the sound of hooves in the distance, the horn blowing once more, and arrows flying through the air, she felt something heavy fall upon her and her mind losing consciousness...

_Author's note: Hello there! Firstly, I really just want to say I'm sorry for this part. I have worked on it for a while now and I'm not very pleased with it, so I really want to hear your opinion on it, if there is anything I could have done better and such. Secondly, I want to say thank you for all your nice reviews! I really hope that you take your time to write something nice for me :) Thirdly, I would love to hear what you think of the story in general. Is there anything I should change, give you more of or anything? What part has yet been your favourite and why? Let me know! :) Have a nice day!_


	18. Endearing elves

**Endearing elves**

While Clara tried to fend of the foes, the company found themselves in a small cave, with a path leading of into the dark behind them.

They listened to the sound of the hooves and the horn and as an orc suddenly came tumbling down through the crack, they found it already killed by and arrow.

Thorin was quick at pulling it out, the dark blood from the orc in front of him covering it. His gaze darkened as he saw the delicate arrow in his hand.

"Elves", he spat, as he threw the arrow away and Gandalf shot him an irritated glance. He was tired of Thorin's hate for the elves.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" Dwalin's voice caught their attention and they turned, to find him standing in the beginning of the pathway.

"Follow it of course." Bofur, seeing that they had no other choice, started moving and they all quickly followed, wanting to get away from the elves and the orcs.

"I think that would be wise", murmured Gandalf as they set of. He knew that it would be hard to get up the other way as it was.

As they all set of into the darkness, Kili turned to look for Clara. He had not seen her since they had entered the cave and his heart was gripped by fear as he did not spot the girl anywhere.

His sudden inhale, was noticed by the hobbit next to him and they exchanged a glance, knowing that the two of them were thinking the same thing.

Where were Clara?

They walked for quite some time, through a narrow ravine, before they reached a short flight of stone steps leading downwards. Reaching the end, they found themselves looking out over a valley. A group of houses was placed in the middle, surrounded by trees and flowing waterfalls.

"Th Valley of Imladris." Gandalf spoke slowly, watching the surprised faces of the dwarves. "In the Common Tongue, it is known by another name."

"Rivendell." Bilbo's soft whisper surrounded them all, as he spoke the name of the valley.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea." Gandalf smiled to himself, something that irritated Thorin quite a bit.

"This was your plan all along, to seek refugee with our enemy." The dark-haired dwarf lord glared at the wizard, earning a sigh in reply.

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself." Gandalf glared back at Thorin, while Bilbo rolled his eyes at their bickering. They had more important things to take care of.

"You think the elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us." Thorin's words got a few nods in agreement, something that did not make Gandalf very happy.

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me." Gandalf's words caused all the dwarves to fall silent and they started to follow the wizard down the path towards the houses. They had no other choice, seeing as there were no going back now.

As the dwarves walked across one last bridge, finding themselves right bellow the biggest house, they started to realise something was not right. They already felt quite uneasy when it came to being in the valley as it was, but something else was wrong. Kili was quick on informing them.

"Has any of you seen Clara?" He had been keeping quiet about it during their walk, but now he could not keep his worries inside any more.

"What do you mean?" Balin looked at the young dwarf. "Is she not here with us?" His words caused them all to look around them, but none of them could spot the blonde girl.

"I have not seen her since we entered the cave." Kili frowned, his look of concern being reflected on the bearded faces around him.

"Where on earth can she be?" Also Thorin showed his worries and frowned. For a moment, he forgot his hatred for the elves to concentrate on the lost girl.

"I think she might had stayed behind to fend of the orcs." Kili swallowed hard, remembering sprinting past the girl on his way towards the crack in the ground. She must have stayed behind, there were no other explanation.

Silence fell over the company, as they realised what Clara's fate must have been, and this was therefore how Lindir, one of the elves of the valley, found them a few minutes later.

"Mithrandir." Lindir's smile seemed to only gain response from Bilbo and Gandalf, the only two that did not dislike the elves. The dwarves did instead only give him suspicious looks.

"Ah, Lindir." Gandalf stepped forward to greet the elf, also he carrying a smile on his lips.

"Lastannem i athrannedh i Vruinen." The Elvish was only understandable for the wizard and the dwarves murmured in distrust as they tried to understand it.

"I must speak with Lord Elrond." Gandalf, seeing the serious faces of the dwarves, quickly changed to the Common Tongue.

"My Lord Elrond is not here." Lindir's smile fell from his lips as he spoke. He did not like the place his lord had left to.

"Not here? Where is he?" Gandalf frowned, waiting for the elf to reply, something that never happened.

Instead the sound of a familiar horn was heard echoing through the valley, causing the company to quickly turn.

Over the bridge they had all just crossed, came a group of armed elves, riding slender horses. Their grim appearance set the dwarves on edge once more.

"Ifridî bekâr!Hold ranks!" Thorin's voice flew through the air and the dwarves quickly gathered themselves into a group and directed their weapons towards the elves, whom rode around them in a small circle, before finally stopping.

"Gandalf." The sound of a new voice was heard and a dark-haired dwarf looked down from his horse upon the wizard, a smile placed on his lips.

"Lord Elrond." Gandalf bowed, also he smiling. "Mellonnen! Mo evìnedh?"

"Farannem 'lamhoth i udul o charad. Dagannem rim na lant Vedui." Elrond spoke slowly in Elvish, his words clearly annoying the dwarves, as they once more found themselves not understanding a word. They murmured to themselves over the 'rudeness of the elves', but this Elrond did not take any notice of. Instead, he dismounted his horse and embraced the grey wizard. "Strange for orcs to come so close to our borders. Something, or someone, have drawn them near." The elf lord gave Gandalf a judgemental look and the wizard smiled apologetically.

"Ah, that may have been us." The wizard shrugged his shoulders, earning a quick glance from the elf.

"I believe we might have found someone whom belongs to you." Elrond gestured towards one of the horses, where a silver-haired elf still sat. In front of him, resting against his chest, sat Clara. Her eyes were closed and her breathing slow, dried blood colouring her blonde hair and pale shirt. Her skin was almost as pale as the white of the elf's hair and they all realised she had lost quite a bit of blood.

"Clara. Thank the Valar." Gandalf sighed in relief, his words speaking for the entire company.

"We will see to her wounds and she will with a little luck be with us by the evening meal." Elrond smiled, nodding towards the elf, whom steered his horse away from the company and down another bridge.

"Thank you, my lord." Gandalf bowed, the thankfulness shining in his eyes.

As the girl and the elf disappeared in the distance, Thorin stepped forward from the middle of the group.

"Welcome, son of Thorin, son of Thrain." Elrond nodded towards the dwarf, clearly recognising him.

"I do not believe we have met." Thorin glared at the elf, not going to fall for his charm that easily.

"You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain." Elrond clearly ignored the glare, as he kept on speaking.

"Indeed." Thorin looked up at the elf, his voice full of sarcasm. "He made no mention of you." The insult would probably have made anyone else angry, but Elrond merely narrowed his eyes and ignored it all.

"Nartho i noer, toltho i viruvor. Boe i annam vann a nethail vin." The elf spoke slowly in the language of his people, his voice soft.

"What is he saying?" Gloin, the dwarf with the hottest temper, spoke fiercely, his voice shaking with anger and distrust. "Does he offer us insult?" The other dwarves gripped their weapons, glaring suspiciously at Elrond and the elves they could see strolling around nearby.

"No, master Gloin, he is offering you food." Gandalf sighed, clearly very tired of the way the dwarves were acting.

At his words, the dwarves turned to one another and mumbled quickly, discussing the matter. They were all very hungry and free food was never wrong.

"Ah, well in that case, lead on." Gloin spoke quickly, his voice low and showing no shame.

Elrond nodded, before he turned and started to head up the stairs towards the house above, followed by Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves.

While the dwarves cleaned themselves up and put their pack away, Clara was starting to wake up. At first when she opened her eyes, she thought she actually had died.

The room was bright by clear sunlight and built in pale, yellow stone. It felt like a place of dreams and joy and not one of hurt and darkness.

But as she tried to sit up and a searing pain started in the right side of her stomach, she realised that she still must be alive. You felt no pain in the land of death, so she could not be there.

"Take it easy, my lady." A light hand placed itself on her shoulder and gripped it as she unsteadily tried to throw her legs over the side of the bed she had been resting in. "Your wound is not yet healed and you need to be careful." The voice was soft and comforting and Clara drew a deep breath to calm herself.

"Where am I?" She looked up, finding the gentle eyes of a woman seated on a chair next to the bed.

"In the Valley of Imladris", replied the woman and released her grip around Clara's shoulder, as the girl fell back against the pillows. "Or as your people know it; Rivendell."

"_Rivendell?_" Clara murmured the name to herself, knowing that it was important. As she realised that Gandalf had spoken of it, she quickly looked up once more and bit her lip. "Are my friends here?" Her heart was beating quickly in her chest, her hands clutching each other. What if she was the only one that had made it out?"

"It depends on which friends you mean." The woman rose from her chair and then stretched a hand out for the girl to take. "If you mean the company of Thorin Oakenshield, then they arrived a few minutes before you did."

"Really?" The girl smiled widely and the woman laughed, not totally used to the quickness of the humans.

"Really." She gripped Clara's hand in her own and helped her out of the bed. "If you promise me to take it calm, I shall help you get dressed and bring you down to them. They are currently dining with Lord Elrond."

"That would be very nice of you." Clara smiled, her eyes travelling the room.

The bed she had just left, stood by an open window, with a small table and the woman's chair on its right side. On the left, stood another chair, her clothes hanging over it. They looked rather damp and she realised that they must have been washed recently. "What should I wear?" Turning back towards the woman, she frowned slightly. The nightgown she was wearing did not feel appropriate for a dinner.

"Since your clothes have just been washed, I thought you could use this." The woman held up a deep-blue gown, the same colour as Clara's cloak, and smiled softly. "I thought it would be nicer to use this than your damp clothes."

"Oh." Clara stepped forward, wincing by the pain that shot through her side, and touched the soft fabric. "Thank you." She looked up to meet the gaze of the woman. "If you don't mind", she said and smiled. "What is your name? I would like to know the name of the one that has nursed me back to help."

"Ah, that is easy." The woman hung the gown over a chair and then helped Clara get out of her nightgown and then first into a clean petticoat and then the gown. They were both a bit too big for her, seeing as she was shorter than the person it was sewn for, but it was barely noticeable by anyone but herself. "My name is Linwë." The woman smiled brightly and studied the now dressed girl. No one that knew that she had been hurt, could guess it from her appearance at that moment. Her hair was washed clean and softly curling itself around her face and the gown hid the bandage around her stomach.

"And my name is Clara." Clara smiled brightly, Linwë frowning slightly.

"Clara you say? That is a name I have barely heard of before." Realising that she probably did sound very rude, she placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled. "I merely mean that I have never heard your name in the Common Tongue before. Most women named like you, use the Elven language for their names."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Clara frowned as Linwë started to lead her towards the door. She had never heard anything about having to say her name in the Elven language, a language she did not know much of.

"That merely mean that the spelling of your name and the way you say it is not out of this world." Linwë's words was serious and her expression soft as she lead the girl down a flight of stairs. "In our language, you would have had the name Lùthien, like one of our most beloved ancestors." The woman dropped her gaze, sadness taking over her features.

"Did you know her?" Something told Clara that this could have been the case, though the way Linwë had spoken of the ancestor had made it sound as if it had been thousands of years ago, something that could not have been possible. That would mean that Linwë would be elder than any of the dwarves in the company and their ancestors.

"I did, yes. She gave up her immortality to marry the mortal man she loved. His name was Beren." Linwë looked up, only to meet the surprised gaze of the girl.

"That would mean you are thousands of years old." Clara knew it was rude of her to say it, but she needed to know what was going on. Linwë did not look much older than herself.

"I am, yes." Linwë smiled. "I am an elf after all." Her words made Clara stop in her tracks and she stared up at the woman.

"Oh." She felt her cheeks turn red by the embarrassment. She should have known this, seeing as they were in Rivendell. This was a place where the elves lived. "I am sorry. I must have hit my head harder than I thought." Clara smiled and the elf chuckled softly.

"Oh, do not worry, dear one. I am not offended." She released her grip around the girl's shoulder. "I will have to leave you know. The dinner is not for me." Pointing down a corridor, where Clara could hear soft music and the talking of the dwarves, Linwë smiled softly. "You will find your friends down there." Clara nodded and shot the elf one last smile.

"Thank you for your help." Receiving a smile in return, she started down the corridor and soon found herself with the dwarves once more, surprising them in their hunt for food that was not green.

_Author's note: They are in Rivendell, yay! :D Well, I don't have much to say about this part, except this: If any of you want the translation for the Elvish, let me know and I will post it at the end of this part when I put up the next one. Also, I really hope you're enjoying my story and that you take your time telling me what you think, since that makes me more determined to keep on writing!_


	19. Moonlit moments

**Moonlit moments**

The first thing Clara noticed when she stepped out from the corridor and up a few steps, was how beautiful it was.

The dinner was held on a platform, in the shadow of an old tree where they overlooked the valley bellow and received the rays of the evening sun. The platform had no roof and it felt like being in a meadow in the woods, which also probably was the idea with it all.

Being dwarves, no one in the company seemed very impressed by anything. They were murmuring about how irritating the music was, the lack of meat in the food and how they wished they had a fire to grill something over instead of sitting around a table 'like a blasted elf.'

But as Clara stepped up on the platform, her face still a bit pale by the blood-loss and her arm resting across her stomach to keep herself from doing any quick movements, they all looked up and smiled at the girl.

"Welcome back, my lady." Balin nodded towards her where he was seated next to Bilbo.

"Thank you, Balin." She smiled towards him, before letting her gaze travel the platform. All the dwarves were seated around a big table in the middle of it, while Gandalf, Thorin and a dark-haired elf, that she guessed must be Lord Elrond, sat around a smaller one next to it.

"My girl, I am glad to see you back on your feet. You gave us all a bit of a fright there." Gandalf placed his hand over his heart and then gestured it towards a fourth chair that was placed by the table. "Come and sit down." Throwing a quick look towards the grumpy dwarves around the bigger table, she did as he said and sat down next to him. She would have preferred to eat with the others, but she guessed this was to keep her from the, sometimes, careless dwarves.

"It is lovely to meet you, Lord Elrond." Clara realised that she was quite rude not to greet their host and she turned towards him. "Thank you for taking care of me." The grey eyes of the elf studied her, a serious smile resting in the corner of his mouth.

"It is most lovely to meet you, too, my lady." He bowed his head down and then met her gaze. "I am glad you are feeling well enough to join us. I was quite worried about the blow you had to the head, but I can see that Mistress Linwë has taken good care of it, and you." Clara nodded and chuckled softly.

"I cannot say that I was very worried about my head. I must have hit it much harder a month ago when the company found me." She bit her lip and watched as a serving elf poured wine into the glass that was placed before her and put a plate down before her.

"Master Gandalf told me of your amnesia." Lord Elrond looked, concerned, at her. "But if you would allow me to, I can see if I can do something about it."

A bit surprised, Clara nodded quickly, a smile spreading across her lips.

"If you think you could cure it, then I would be most grateful." Her smiled grew wider and she forced herself to take a sip from the glass to hide it. She could not get too exited. Her memories could be terrible, what did she know? What if she was going to get kicked out of the company because of it?

But as the wizard, the elf and the dwarf started speaking of the swords they had found earlier that day, and her stomach grumbled with hunger, she turned the thoughts of memories away and instead started eating. She needed to regain her strength.

"Our business is no concern of elves." Thorin glared up at Elrond, his earlier humble speech totally blown away.

"For goodness sake, Thorin, show him the map." Gandalf looked angrily at Thorin, his serious expression showing the small group that he had had more than enough of the suspicious dwarf lord.

Thorin, Gandalf, Lord Elrond, Balin, Bilbo and Clara was gathered in a dark hallway. The dinner had been finished about an hour ago and Gandalf had now convinced Thorin into asking Elrond for help. Or, he was still trying to.

"It is the legacy of my people. It is mine to protect, as are its secrets." Thorin clutched the map in his hand and looked up at Gandalf with a grim look resting in his dark eyes.

"Save me from the stubbornness of dwarves. Your pride will be your downfall. You stand here in the presence of one of the few in Middle-Earth who can read that map. Show it to Lord Elrond." Gandalf's raised voice, caused Clara to carefully take a step back and then turn to study Thorin. Elrond had taken a look at her head and it was now hurting again, something he had told her was a good sign when it came to remembering. So she did not like the raised voice of the wizard. It hurt.

Thorin glared at Gandalf for a moment, before he took a step forward to hand the elf the map.

"Thorin, no!" Balin tried to pull the dark-haired dwarf back, but got brushed aside by a firm hand, as Elrond received the map.

Not looking very pleased with himself, Thorin stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Erebor. What is your interest in this map?" Elrond looked suspiciously at the dwarves, the wizard, the hobbit and the girl gathered around him.

Thorin opened his mouth to speak, but got cut off by Gandalf. Apparently did the wizard not want the dwarf to destroy their currently earned trust.

"It is mainly academic." Gandalf cleared his throat awkwardly, before continuing. "As you know, this sort of artefact sometimes contains hidden text. You still read Ancient Dwarfish, do you not?" The wizard looked hopefully at the elf, whom nodded slowly, held up the map in the silvery moonlight.

"Cirth Ithil", he murmured to himself, realisation coming over both him and the wizard. Also Clara looked up, as the words translated themselves inside her head. How she knew what the elf was speaking of, she did not know. All she knew was that the words swam in her head and caused it to hurt even more.

"Moon runes. Of course." Gandalf took a deep breath, before quickly shrugging his shoulders. "An easy thing to miss."

"Well in this case, that is actually true. Moon runes can only be read by the light of a moon of the same shape and season as the day on which they were written." Elrond studied the map for a moment more, before he looked up.

Thorin met his gaze, his features both hopeful and serious.

"Can you read them?" Elrond looked at him for a moment before he nodded.

As Elrond started to lead them of down the corridor, Clara decided that she had had enough of maps and Thorin for one night and therefore quickly bid the others goodnight. With her current headache and the burning pain in her stomach, she just wanted to return to her room and get some more rest.

Walking back to the platform, she found the other dwarves, whom had quickly emptied the house on all meat they could find and started a fire by the wood of the furniture they had earlier been sitting on, being in a good mood. Their deep voices sang, laughed and talked as they filled their stomachs with the grilled food. They were not much for vegetables, that was for sure.

Clara bid them goodnight, wishing them a nice meal and a nice sleep, and then left them to once more to head for her room.

But something stopped her, as she reached the flight of stairs leading upwards. She wanted to have some peace and quiet, and even though the room would give her this, she wanted to go somewhere else.

The soft smell of flowers, came drifting through a corridor to her left and she soon found herself heading this way. It was worth a try.

So before long, she found herself in a small garden. Herbs and flowers was glittering in pale colours in the light of the stars and the moon and the smell of them all were calming.

Seating herself on a bench, she stroke her hands over the soft fabric of her gown and closed her eyes for a moment. Elrond's words about her headache making her remember things, soared through her head and she pressed a hand to her forehead. She wanted to remember, but she hated the pain.

The sudden sound of footsteps approaching, caused her to once more open her eyes and search for the intruder. It was probably a curious elf that wanted to know what she thought she was actually doing there.

"Am I disturbing you?" Kili's voice rung out through the silvery light and she raised her eyebrows as her eyes found him. She could have sworn the footsteps had been lighter than those of a dwarf.

"Not more than usual." She looked up and met his gaze, a serious smile resting on her lips.

"Good." He smiled back, taking a few steps towards her where she sat. "How are you feeling?" His worried expression caused her smile to soften and she shifted on the bench to give him room to sit down.

"Better than before. The wound barely hurt and according to Elrond I am going to start remembering again." She bit her lip and turned her eyes down to the ground. She knew that her memories would probably change everything and it scared her. She did not want to lose the friends she had made.

"That is good, is it not?" Kili smiled, his eyes searching for hers. He hated the sad expression her face held.

"I suppose." She locked her eyes on a silvery flower, glowing beautifully in the moonlight. "Though I cannot help but to feel a bit scared." She moved a strand of her hair out of her face and then looked up at him once more. "What if I'm a terrible person? What if I am an enemy of you all?" Tears sprang up in her eyes and she ran a hand under her eyes, trying to keep them from spilling down her cheeks.

"I am sure you are not." Kili placed his hand on her shoulder in a way to comfort her. "I would not allow it." He met her gaze, a smile resting on his lips. "None of us would. I promise."

"Do not promise things you cannot be sure to keep." She shrugged his hand off and shifted on the bench, moving herself further from him. Not returning to her room had been a stupid idea.

"I am not. I am promising things that I know I will be able to keep." He raised his hand, his fingers brushing her cheek.

The sudden contact caused her to stiffen for a moment, her senses running on highest speed as their skin touched. But soon, she realised that the movement of his fingers over her cheek, was very calming and she found herself enjoying it.

"I am sorry", she murmured and looked up, his brown eyes glittering in the light of the moon. "I am just a bit tired. It has been a long day." The fact that it was mere hours since they had been attacked by the orcs, was quite hard to grasp. Same with the fact that only the prior night, they had been fighting the trolls. Time flew quick.

"I know." He shifted closer, his eyes fixed upon hers. "Everyone's tired after all this excitement." His free hand stretched forward and gripped hers, his thumb slowly caressing her knuckles.

Lowering her gaze, her eyes found their hands, resting together in her lap. A blush coloured her cheeks and she bit her lip. What on earth was she really doing? This was not good. They could not do this.

She was about to pull away and excuse herself, when the hand brushing her cheek, stopped and moved down to lift her chin, causing her to meet Kili's gaze. Those warm, brown eyes.

"Kili", she murmured softly, her hand slipping out of his, as he lifted it to cup her cheek.

"You know last night?", he said, a smile resting in the corner of his mouth. "When I gave you my bow?" She nodded slowly, her eyes catching a guarded look. What was he doing? "And I kissed your brow?" A nervous smile spread across his lips. "I have not been able to get that out of my head all day." He shifted even closer, the warmth of his leg touching his spreading through the thin fabric of her gown.

She opened her mouth to protest, knowing that he had a plan about all this. They could not do this. She could not.

"Kili", she said again, now stronger and more firmly. "What are you..." He cut of her sentence, by stroking his thumb over her lips.

"Truth is, I have had a hard time getting you out of my head these past few weeks. I know that you are a human and I a dwarf and nothing are idealistic for us, but..." He met her gaze once more, his eyes taking in her face. "But I would like to give it a shot."

"Kili, stop it." She had had enough by his words and the wonderful sensation his skin touching hers gave her and she quickly rose, ignoring the pain that burned through her body. "We cannot do this. I cannot." Tears sprung up in her eyes once more and she quickly averted her gaze from him to hide it.

"Clara..." Also he rose and he tried to grip her hand, but she stepped away.

"I am sorry, Kili. I cannot let you do this." And with that, she turned on her heel and quickly exited the garden, her feet leading her towards the safety of her room.

_Author's note: All right, firstly, I just want to say thank you for all the lovely reviews! I always gets to touched by the fact that someone actually takes their time to write me something nice! I get so happy by it!  
Secondly: I'm not really sure about this part. A lot of it is just weird and confusing, and I suppose it's a bit like Clara's head. Also she is confused by her memories coming back. What will she actually remember? While we're on the subject: Are there any certain parts of her life you would like to see something of? What kind of things do you want her to remember? :)_


	20. Dim dreams

**Dim dreams**

_The soft tunes of one of Florence + the Machine's songs played through her headphones and she hummed quietly to herself as she walked under the blue umbrella. The rain was pouring down and she was soaked to the bone, but she was too occupied with her thoughts to care. She was used to the weather, having lived her entire life in the dampness of Ireland, and this was just another day on the job. _

"_Enjoying our music, are we?" A voice coming through the rain and music, caused her to stop and turn, finding herself looking at a dark-haired man. He was standing under an over-hanging roof, his clothes damp and glued to his body. _

"_I'm sorry?" She frowned and raised her hand, pulling one of the earplugs out of her ear. Her voice was tired and the Irish accent thicker than usual. "'re we 'aving trouble with other people's life now, huh?" He annoyed her greatly, by the way he looked so amused by the fact that he had irritated her. _

"_Damn, take it easy. I didn't mean to offend you." He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus." He shook his head and pulled the hood of his jacket up. "I was merely asking if you enjoyed your music."_

"_You're weird", she commented quickly and shrugged her shoulders. "And I'm leaving ya now. My life ain't your business." Knowing she was rude, she put the earplug back and started walking again. The meeting had been the oddest she had ever experienced and she had no idea about what had really happened, but she could not help but to smile. He had been good looking, that was for sure. _

The sound of voices outside, caused her to sit up quickly and take a deep breath of the cool air. Her head spun by the dream and she rose from the bed, her bare feet meeting the cold floor.

She had remembered something. Something that had made everything so much more complicated. She was not from here. Not from this world, this universe. She was from a totally different place, where places like these were fiction.

Clara raised her hand, brushing the hair out of her face as she walked to the window and stared out over the valley bellow. How had she ended up here? How was this even possible?

After all the blows to the head, her wounds and everything she had done here, she knew it could not be a dream. If it was, she was surely in a very long and very deep coma that sent her to places like this.

Shaking her head and letting her eyes travel over the landscape bellow, she felt a silent tear fall down her cheek. She had come to love this life she lived here. All the places she had seen and was yet to see, all the people she had met and all the things she had done. She was never going to want to leave, that was for sure. If she ever could leave. That was also a question.

Clara sighed and turned back towards the room. She had had that feeling of that she did not really belong here and she was right. She could not stay with the company. The way she had been transported here, was odd and she knew that it was something wrong with it. She was only going to put them all in danger.

As determination gripped her, she moved across the room and picked up her clothes from the chair. She had had enough of the beautiful, elvish dresses and nightgowns. If she was going to slip away in the night, she could not wear any of that.

So she quickly changed into the cleaned travelling clothes and hung the other ones over the chair. She had loved looking so clean and whole for a while, but now that part was over. Now she had to leave before the dawn rose and the dwarves woke up. They were never to know where she had gone of to.

Minutes later, after making sure the room looked nice and leaving a small note for Linwë, apologising for her behaviour, she was out the door and on her way down the stairs. She knew she did not have the grace of the elves or the quietness of the hobbits when it came to come and go unnoticed, and she had to keep her eyes resting on the ground to make sure she did not step on anything that could alarm the elven guards.

As she just had climbed a flight of stairs and found herself in a pavillion, with a table standing in the middle and a waterfall tumbling down the side into the valley, she heard voices.

Looking down the stairs, she saw the familiar forms of Gandalf and Elrond and she knew that it was mere seconds before they were going to find her there.

She therefore quickly ducked behind a column and held her breath, her mind praying for them not to notice her.

"With or without our help, these dwarves will march on the Mountain. They are determined to reclaim their homeland. I do not believe Thorin Oakenshield feels he is answerable to anyone. Nor for that matter am I." Gandalf's tired voice came drifting towards her and she could guess that Elrond had been speaking of something concerning their quest. Or, rather, the quest of the dwarves. For as soon as she was out of there, she was no longer a part of it.

"It is not me you must answer to." Elrond's voice, so close now, told her that they had reached the end of the stairs and that they were only metres away from her.

"Lady Galadriel!" The sudden gasp that came from the wizard, made her frown. In her curiosity, she turned her head, her eyes finding a female elf. Her hair was long and blonde and her eyes piercing blue, as they swept over the space between herself and the two men.

As her eyes reached Clara's hiding place, she knew that the woman knew she was there. Clara cursed herself. She must have seen her arrive.

"Mithrandir. It has been a long time." The soft voice of the lady came drifting across the pavilion and Clara felt a shiver travel down her spine. This was a powerful woman.

"_Nae nin gwistant infanneth, mal ú-eichia i Chíril Lorien." _The elvish spoken by Gandalf was heard next and the words flew into her mind, translating themselves.

"Age may have changed me, but not so the Lady of Lorien." Frowning to herself, she watched as the woman smiled. How she actually knew elvish, was something she had to think of later.

"I had no idea Lord Elrond had sent for you." Gandalf's voice was tired, as the two men moved towards the lady.

"He did not. I did." From the darkness came a new voice. A voice that was serious and caused a shiver to travel down Clara's spine. She did not like the sound of it.

Another man stepped out, dressed in white with a white beard and hair, spots of grey still visible.

"Saruman." Gandalf bowed, a small sigh escaping his lips. He did not need the other wizard there right then.

"You have been busy of late, my friend." Saruman spoke once more, nodding towards the gathered company. "And I believe we have things to discuss." He gestured towards the table, taking a step forward to sit down. But the voice of the lady, Galadriel, stopped him.

"We cannot start just yet, Curunir." The name was obviously Saruman's, as he was the one to react.

"And why is that, my lady?"

"We have a visitor." Galadriel stepped down the steps from the platform where she had been standing and quickly moved across the pavilion towards where Clara stood.

Realising that there were no use in hiding, Clara stepped forward and bit her lip nervously. What were they going to do to her?

"Clara." Gandalf's voice was no more than a whisper and she carefully looked up at him, seeing the confusion in his eyes, while both Saruman and Elrond next to him looked very displeased.

"What do you think you are doing here, girl?" Saruman's voice was harsh and cold and she stiffened as he started to move towards her. "This is a private counsel." He leaned heavily on his staff and let his eyes travel over her.

"There are no use in scolding her, Curunir." Galadriel placed a protecting arm around Clara's shoulders, a gesture that surprised the girl greatly.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to spy on you. I heard Lord Elrond and Gandalf and panicked, so I just hid. I did not intend to hear anything I was not supposed to." Clara bent her head down in shame, feeling Galadriel's grip tightening around her.

"There is nothing to forgive, mellon." Galadriel smiled and looked up at the three men. "She will be needed during our counsel, for she know more than any of us can imagine. Including herself." The elven lady moved slowly towards the table, showing Clara to a chair, before she placed herself beside her, as if she was a protective mother. "Now, Curunir, you can begin."

Saruman shot Clara a suspicious look, before also he and Gandalf sat down and the white wizard took a deep breath, before he started speaking.

The counsel was held during the rest of the night and Clara found herself learning things she had never thought she would learn. With her new knowledge of her past, she told the gathered group of what she knew and of her last memories of her fall in the woods. She had not remembered as much as she would have liked, but what she told them seemed to be enough.

"So you say that you are from another world. Another place that is not Middle-Earth?" Saruman looked at her, his forehead furrowed in thought. "That sounds like madness." He straightened himself up and leaned back against the backrest of his chair. "My lady, I cannot see how this will help us with anything. The girl is clearly driven mad by being abducted by those dwarves." The wizard looked up at Galadriel, whom met his gaze sternly.

"I thought you, Curunir, would understand this. You are after all one of the Istari, just like Mithrandir. You are Maiar and would know more of the Valar than any of us." The elven lady shook her head slowly, as in disbelief of the white wizard's actions. "The Valar must have something to do with this and I am sure that Clara is here for a reason."

Clara quickly looked up at the lady, a thankful smile showing on her lips, before she turned towards Saruman.

"I am sorry for my boldness, sir. But I cannot say I was abducted by the dwarves. They asked me to come and I did so willingly. I count them as my friends and I will not hear you speak ill of them." She rose slowly from her place and let her eyes sweep over the gathered. "I am thanking you for this opportunity to be a part of this, but I see now that dawn in nearing and that you want to speak in peace." She smiled seriously towards the white wizard, before bending her head down and turning to leave.

As she started to descend the stairs, the clear voice of Galadriel shot through her mind and she stopped, turning to meet the eyes of the elven lady.

"_You will be a great lady of our country, Lúthien Helyanwë. Those who earn your love and friendship are lucky." _

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she heard the mentioning of the name Linwë had told her of. Hearing it spoken by the Lady of Lòthlorien made it seem even more important and she nodded quickly, before she turned and headed down the stairs. She still had to get out before the dwarves awoke.

Grunting softly, Kili turned and opened his eyes. He had had such an odd dream and he did not like it.  
Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through the loose strands of his hair. The sun had just started to rise above the horizon, but yet the company around him was already up on their feet and preparing to leave.

"Hurry up. We need to head of before the elves wake up." Thorin was already ready with his pack and stood impatiently waiting in the stairs leading away from the room they had all slept in.

"What about Gandalf? And Clara?" Bilbo rolled his blankets together and looked up at the dwarf lord carefully.

"We will meet Gandalf in the Mountains. And Clara? She will not come with us." Thorin rubbed his chin and averted his gaze from the hobbit. "She will be better of staying here."

Kili looked up at his uncle, biting his lip. Even though he did not feel like meeting Clara right then after what she had done to him the night before, he knew it was not right to leave her behind.

He opened his mouth to protest, but Bilbo got there first.

"She has signed the contract like any other member of this company. She is one of us. Leaving her is not right." Bilbo's words gained a few agreeing nods and Thorin sighed deeply.

"Fine." Thorin's eyes searched the gathered dwarves. "Fili, Kili, you go find her. If she is not here within ten minutes, we will leave without her." He gestured towards the door and his nephews quickly rose, gathering their packs and weapons and disappearing outside.

"Great. Just great." Kili sighed deeply as they walked through a silent courtyard.

"What is up with you, little brother?" Fili shot his brother a slightly worried glance as they walked, his eyes finding the troubled expression of his face. "I thought you would be thrilled to continue."

"I am. It's just..." The dark-haired dwarf shrugged his shoulders and fell silent.

"'It's just' what?" Fili, knowing that something was wrong, did not give up. His brother had been gloomy the entire morning. "You know you can trust me."

Kili opened his mouth to speak, but a person stumbling out from a doorway and knocking him to the ground, stopped this.

"Oh-my-I'm-so-sorry-sir-bloody-hell." The voice speaking quickly, thick with an accent by the sudden fright, was familiar and Kili closed his eyes for a moment where he lay, sprawled on the ground. This was not happening.

"Clara? What are you doing here?" Fili's voice caused the younger dwarf to open his eyes once more and quickly get up on his feet.

"I... um..." Clara bit her lip, her hands adjusting the backpack and quiver on her back. "I was just..." A blush crept to her face and she averted her eyes from the two dwarves, of which one had his gaze locked on his shoes, as if they were the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

"Let us take that later. We are leaving now. Come on." Fili gestured back towards the courtyard they had just crossed and then started walking, leaving Clara and Kili in an awkward silence.

Clara looked up carefully, her eyes meeting Kili's, as a new blush came to rest on her cheeks. She hated herself for what she had done to him the night before.

Kili met her gaze, his eyes studying the silent pleading her blue eyes held. An urge of embracing her and never let her go came over him and he let his eyes travel her features, before he stiffened and turned away. What he had once felt for her was going to leave and looking at her was not going to make that easy.

"Come on", he grumbled and quickly headed of after his brother, not even caring if she followed him or not.

The company did not take many minutes to gather themselves and head of once more. So as the sun started its climb on the sky, they were already climbing a path up into the mountains, leaving the valley of Imladris behind.

"Be on your guard. We are about to step over the edge of the wild." Stopping, Thorin watched as the company climbed closer. "Balin, you know these paths. Lead on." He nodded towards the white-haired dwarf and Balin quickly nodded back.

"Aye", he murmured, throwing a quick look behind him as he passed the leader of the company and continued upwards, closely followed by Clara.

Bilbo, having stopped just like Thorin, turned back towards the valley, a deep sigh escaping his lips. He did not want to leave the comfortable house of Lord Elrond or the loveliness of the elves. He could have stayed there for many months to come and would have preferred that over the uncomfortable roads before them. But he had given his promise to follow and that was what he was going to do. At least for a short while.

"Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up." Thorin looked at the hobbit, a small sigh also escaping his lips. The hobbit was quite hopeless when it came to following orders and journeying this way. He clearly had second thoughts about coming along and Thorin did not appreciate that.

But as Bilbo turned and kept on walking, Thorin looked away and kept on moving himself. The dawn had past and morning was coming. They had to be further away before the elves came after them. As he knew they would.

_Author's note: Wow, this is already part 20! I never thought I would be here this early into the story! And all that is thanks you y'all out there! Thank you! :D All right, so in this part I have tried to bring in a few of the ideas you had for Clara's memories (For example the umbrella and the music) and more of this will come later on. I have for example a plan about letting the dwarves learn a modern song as Clara try to cheer them up somewhere. When, where and how this will happen is yet to be figured out, though.  
Anyway: I'm really happy for the reviews I got on the last part and I really hope you have something to comment on on this part. Either good or bad ^^ Thanks for reading!_


	21. Silent songs

**Silent songs**

From Rivendell, it did not take long before they reached the shadows of the Misty Mountains and started to climb the hills ever higher. They all found themselves to be quite rested and relaxed greatly as they once more started to sing while they travelled.

Also Clara, despite her thoughts of leaving the company, quickly became more open and talkative, something they all appreciated.

As she told them of her returning memories and she remembered things she had used to do back home, they tutored her in things that could be good to know. Fili helped her with her sword, Thorin with her bow. Ori let her borrow his sketchbook to draw sketches of the other dwarves and Oin taught her the basics of healing. Bombur and Gloin helped her with cooking and fire-making and Bofur taught her to play a simple song on his flute.

Balin told her stories of the Lonely Mountain and Erebor and showed her their planned route on one of his maps, while Dwalin let her try out his axe, something that did not end very well. The dwarf was a bit taller than her and a great deal stronger and she therefore had a hard time even lifting the weapon from the ground.

Nori, Dori and Bilbo told her of the secrets behind regular meals, something they all enjoyed, and that the girl found very amusing.

Kili was the only one that did not teach her anything or helped her develop one of her old skills. He was not unfriendly, but he kept his distance and did not speak to her more than he was forced to. He was not heartbroken, but he still did not like the way she had treated him and then moved on as if nothing had happened.

The days passed and the Mountains marched closer for every day that went by. On the third day, they could already see the beginning of a small forest that covered the roots of one of the first Mountains and on the fourth, they set up camp on the edge of a cliff on the same Mountain.

That night, the dwarves was extra cheerful, as they cooked three rabbits that Clara had succeeded with shooting as they had passed through the forest bellow, and they sang songs of their home that came closer every day.

"_Oh, cheerful fire, can you see it?_

_The Mountains are marching_

_Closer for every day that passes._

_Oh, cheerful fire, can you hear it?_

_The snow is melting_

_Tumbling down the slopes._

_Oh, cheerful fire, can you smell it?_

_The caves are calling_

_Calling us to the depths._

_Oh, cheerful fire, can you taste it?_

_The fire of the dragon is closer_

_Closer than ever before._

_Oh, cheerful fire, can you hear it?_

_The happiness of Erebor_

_As the dragon lays slain by its gates."_

The song caused a shiver to travel down Clara's spine, and she pulled her cloak closer around her where she sat by the fire. The dwarves were so excellent when it came to making up songs. She could never match that.

Bending her head down and clutching a piece of coal in her hand, she looked at the piece of parchment resting in her lap. On the creamy white, a drawing of one of the dwarves was slowly forming. She did not yet know exactly which one of them it was supposed to be, but she guessed she would figure that out as soon as she had to start on the beard. Then it would show well enough.

"That looks very good." Bilbo, sitting next to her, leaned closer and smiled softly.

"It does, yes. I believe he will like it very much." Fili on her other side, grinned and met her gaze.

"Who will like it very much?" Frowning suspiciously, Clara put the coal down and started to roll the parchment together to put it back in her backpack.

"My brother", came the reply from the blonde dwarf.

"That is _not _Kili", hissed Clara, a blush climbing her cheeks as she rose from her spot and clutched the coal in her hand. "I have no idea who it is supposed to be, but it will not be him." She shook her head, almost a bit angry. She was not going to draw Kili. He did not deserve it after the treatment he gave her. He was like a grumpy five year old that had lost his favourite teddy bear.

"Say what you like." Fili chuckled and exchanged a quick look with Bilbo, as Clara looked towards Kili, seated opposite the fire. She hated the fact that no one else than they knew what had happened between them and that the others thought they were just shy when it came to speaking to one another.

"I will." Clara stomped of towards Ori and threw the drawing on the ground next to her backpack as she passed it. Fili clearly needed to check his eyes.

"Hello there Miss Clara." Ori smiled brightly as she threw herself down next to him and gave him the coal. "How is your latest work coming along?" He closed the book he had been writing in and put it down on the ground next to him.

"Not very well, to be honest." She sighed, the rage slowly leaving her. "I am having trouble with whom I want it to be." She shrugged her shoulders and watched as Bombur started to hand out the cooked rabbits.

"Ah, yes, I usually have that problem too, but I am sure it will be clear before long. Otherwise I am here to help." Ori smiled and gripped the bowl he was offered, watching as Clara did the same.

"Thank you, Ori." She smiled back and picked up the spoon resting in the bowl, as she smelt the dinner. It smelled even better than usual. "And thank you Bombur", she called after the fat dwarf as he sat down with his own bowl.

Receiving a nod in reply, she started eating, engaging herself in a conversation with Ori and Dori.

After dinner, the dwarves once more took up their singing and this time Clara joined they merrily, as they did a rerun of "Blunt the Knives", the song they had sung so long ago in Bilbo's house. Bilbo, still not very amused by that they sung of ruining his house, did not look very pleased with it, but he did not say anything about it.

"Can you not sing us a song of your people?", Bofur called from across the fire.

"Yes, do that, Clara!" Ori smiled and nodded quickly, agreeing nods coming from all around. They had not yet heard any of the songs of her people. They did not know from where she came, for she had not told them, but they were still eager to learn what she knew.

"Oh, no, I do not think I should."The girl smiled softly, while shaking her head. She was not sure if she was going to be able to teach them a song that they would understand. Her universe was, after all, so very different from this one. The songs she usually heard would be so odd to the dwarves.

"Come on now, lass." Balin smiled encouraging from where he sat next to Thorin. "It cannot be that bad, can it?"

She sighed deeply, her mind searching for a song she knew. It had to be one that she could do justice without instruments and things like that.

"I suppose I have one that would be suitable. We have quite odd music from where I am from, but I believe this one would be working well now. I cannot say I will do it justice without any instruments, but I will try my best." She took a deep breath, her eyes travelling over the gathered dwarves and the hobbit and then closed her eyes, the words flashing through her thoughts as she opened her mouth to start singing. First a bit shyly, then more strongly as the sudden sound of the dwarves' instruments carefully joined in.

"_I was looking for a breath of life_

_A little touch of heavenly light_

_But all the choirs in my head sang_

_No oh_

_To get a dream of life again_

_A little vision of the start at the end_

_But all the choirs in my head sang_

_No oh_

_But I needed one more touch_

_Another taste of heavenly rush_

_And I believe, I believe it_

_So oh oh_

_And I needed one more touch_

_Another taste of divine rush_

_And I believe, I believe it_

_So oh oh."_

Choking on her words, she stopped, opening her eyes once more as the instruments quieted down. The song had brought up so many feelings in her and she felt rather stupid as tears rose in her eyes. "I am sorry", she murmured, looking up quickly to see the dwarves and Bilbo watching her in silence. "That is not all, but I do not think I can finish any more of it." She bit her lip as she looked up, her eyes meeting a pair of brown ones across the fire. Even though she had not intended it to be, she had made the song about her own mistakes. How she had given up the light Kili could give her to the darkness of loneliness.

"That was very beautiful. Thank you, Clara." Thorin sighed and rose slowly. "Now, it is time for us to get some sleep. Kili and Clara, you two will take the first watch." With that, the entire company got up to leave for their well-needed sleep.

"Sleep well, Ori." Clara smiled towards the dwarf, as he gave her his sketchbook and some coal to help her keep herself occupied guarding.

"Same to you, Miss Clara. When your guarding is finished, that is." Ori bowed, before he turned and headed towards the place where his and Dori's packs rested.

Clara watched as the dwarves all got ready to sleep and as the silence fell once more, she opened up the sketchbook on an empty page and started her sketching.

Across the fire, Kili lit his pipe and watched as the girl leaned over the book in her lap. He had seen little of what she had done and he knew she was almost as good as Ori. While Ori more sketched their surroundings, she was taking turns on the dwarves. She had drawn nearly all of them by now, both by themselves and sitting all together around the fire. All except him.

Sighing, he let his eyes study her face, her brow frowning in thought. He hated the way he was not able to speak to her any more without getting angry about what she had done. She had feelings too and he guessed it must have been hard for her to turn him down. They were friends after all and he knew many friendships had been ruined by a relationship. The least he could do was to try and preserve their friendship.

So he rose silently and walked around the fire, seating himself next to her on the ground. His eyes met hers as she looked up and a hesitating smile rested on his lips.

"You know, if you want to, you can draw me." He did not know from where the courage came, but suddenly he had spoken and he found her looking back at him in surprise.

"Oh." She bit her lip, a hand lifting to brush a strand of her hair out of her face. "I suppose I could give it a go." She smiled back carefully, turning the page of the book, so that a new, white one was shown. "Do not hate me if I mess it up. I might do that."

"I could never hate you, Clara." The serious look in his eyes told her that his words was about so much more than a drawing.

"Even though you would have reason for it", she asked carefully, brushing another strand of blonde hair away. Gosh, why did it have to be so annoying?

"Not even then." He smiled, a hand stretching out to brush her hair behind her ear. "You know, if you want to, I could braid your hair while you sketch. Believe it or not, I am actually quite good at it." He chuckled softly and she smiled once more.

"I suppose they all need some help with all those beards once in a while." She nodded towards the sleeping dwarves.

"They do, actually." He moved closer, carefully, and met her gaze. "So, what do you say?"

"I suppose it could not hurt." She smiled, a blush creeping up her cheeks as he seated himself behind her, his chest mere inches from her back.

"Good." His soft hands brushed through her hair and carefully, they started to braid parts of it into smaller braids, while she leaned back against his chest and started sketching. The fact that nothing more than this could ever happen between, did not matter right then. They would at least always be friends that could braid each others hair.

_Author's note: Here's another part, on the last day of June, and I really hope that you like it :) I got a rush of ideas and felt like writing this, including the song the dwarves sing. I created that and I felt so proud when I realised it. The other song is not of my creation, though. The song Clara sings is "Breath Of Life" by Florence + the Machine, so credit for the lyrics is theirs. If you listen to it while reading that part, remember that Clara does not have the choir or the modern instruments. Just her voice and the few instruments of the dwarves (Pretty much only flutes and harps, maybe a drum too), so it's a bit of an acoustic version.  
Anyway, you are all amazing, your reviews are the best thing ever and I really hope you have something to say about this part, the story or any of the characters, no matter if it's good or bad! :) 3 _


	22. Mysterious Mountains

**Mysterious Mountains**

After another odd dream, Clara quickly snapped awake and looked around her, trying to understand where she was. A hand quickly stroking her hair called her back to reality, as she realised she had once again fallen asleep leaning on Kili.  
"Bloody hell", she murmured quietly as she rubbed her eyes and turned to look at the dwarf. They were apparently still on guard, for she was seated in front of him like when he had been braiding her hair and she had been sketching him. "I am so sorry for falling asleep. I really need to stop doing that." A blush crept to her cheeks and the dwarf smiled softly.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing was happened since you fell asleep." Kili took his pipe out of his mouth with one hand, while the other gave her Ori's sketchbook. "The picture turned out very nicely, by the way." The book was open on the page where his face looked up at her and she smiled softly. She had failed catching his mischievous smile, that was for sure.

A line leading from the drawn dwarf to the end of the page, told her that she must have fallen asleep sketching and that Kili had not even tried waking her up. For this, the dark-haired dwarf earned a glare and a punch in the side.

"You earned that", she growled, as her hand came up to stroke the new braids in her hair. Like the other dwarves', they ended with pearls in silver and dark wood. One of them, though, ended with a small ring of a metal that glowed even whiter than silver.

"I did?" Kili raised his eyebrows as he put his pipe into his pocket and moved to sit next to her. The lack of warmth against her back caused her to shiver and she pulled her cloak closer. "What for?" Also his hand came up to stroke the braid with the ring and their gazes met.

"You let me fall asleep before even half our guarding hours had past." Clara frowned at him, causing him to chuckle.

"I did not mind it if that is what you think." He suppressed a yawn and added a branch to the fire. The night was growing even colder.

"You stubborn little..." She quickly cut of her sentence, as Thorin moved in his sleep and she realised she had been speaking quite loudly. "Sorry", she whispered to the sleeping dwarves, earning only a snore from Gloin in reply.

Kili shot her an amused glance, before turning back towards the fire and rubbing his hands to warm them.

"Our shift is almost over", he murmured, looking up towards the silent stars above. The moon shone in the middle of the sky, showing them that almost half of the night had already past.

"And I did nothing." Clara glared at him once more, before stretching her hands out and gripping his. "Come here, you are freezing." She cupped his hands in her own and brought them to her lips, blowing on them in a try to make them warmer.

"So are you", commented Kili with a shrug, his heart beating fast at the touch of her hands. This about forgetting his feelings for her was not going smoothly.

"Shut it." Clara looked up quickly at him, before releasing his hands and rising from the ground. "Come on, let us go wake Fili and Dwalin. It is their time in a few minutes anyway."

Kili nodded, rising himself before following the girl over to the sleeping group, helping her to wake the two dwarves. They did not like it, though, that was for sure.

As Clara woke up the next morning, it was by rain staining her face and a smell of food soaring through the cold air.  
Being so close to the highest of the Misty Mountains, the air was cold even though it was in the middle of the summer and Clara shivered as she sat up and pulled her coat out of her backpack. She had been warmer when she had finally been able to fall asleep again the night before and therefore merely covered herself in her cloak. She regretted that deeply now.

Pulling her coat on and then fastening her cloak around her neck, she looked up at the dwarves that were trying their best to keep a fire going in the rain. It did not look like it was going too well, according to their grumpy faces.

"Bombur, hurry up." Thorin was the grumpiest where he stood, his dark hair completely wet by the rain and his arms crossed over his chest.

"It is finished." Bombur looked up at the dwarf lord, almost looking a bit hurt when it came to the harsh tone of the dark-haired dwarf's voice. "Dig in." He and Bofur quickly started to hand out the steaming stew, the one from last night. Like any other day.

Not wanting to sit down on the wet ground, Clara pulled her hood over her head and stood under a small tree while eating her food. She did not speak, for she was just as grumpy as everyone else, and no one spoke to her. It was going to be a long day... They all knew it.

The rain poured down as they set of up into the Mountains and started climbing upwards, upwards, upwards.

After three hours, they were all completely soaked to the bone.

After five hours, it was already starting to get dark again.

And after seven hours, thunder started to rumble above them.

The mood in the company had not lifted since the morning and as they started to climb a narrow, slippery path, none seemed very happy.

Stumbling, tired from all the walking in the pouring rain, Clara threw a quick look downwards. Her heart caught in her throat as she saw the steep fall downwards, knowing that her feet were mere millimetres away from the edge.

"Are you all right, lass?" Balin shot her a concerned look and placed a hand on her shoulder. Being a dwarf, he had no problem whatsoever with height and the mountains. "Come now, you are safe here with us." He exchanged a quick look with Bofur on her other side and the dwarf quickly gripped her hand and started to lead her forward. The fear had made her stop short in her tracks and she was holding up the entire company.

"Come on." Bofur tugged at her hand, a small smile on his face as he lead her forward. His hand was big and warm, holding on to her smaller one with a firm grip. Fear still pulsing through her body as they slowly kept on moving, she kept her gaze glued on the dwarf. She was glad it was Bofur and no one else. He was one of those she trusted the most.

Why she was suddenly so scared of heights, she did not know. As she had seen the drop down, she had just know that heights were not for her. She did not belong this far up and she never would. She just wanted to close her eyes and wake up, safe and sound, in a warm bed with a cup of tea and good company.

But that was not going to happen now. They were in the middle of the Misty Mountains, a thunderstorm raging over-head and the rain pouring down and chilling them to the bone. There was going to be many days more before they even reached the end of these stinking Mountains and were on the other side. Even then it would take much more time before they were going to reach Erebor.

A shout from the head of the company, snapped her back to reality and she looked up, her eyes finding Thorin that had stopped and turned before her.

"Hang on", he called and pulled his cloak closer around him. His eyes darted through the darkness, as Bilbo next to him stumbled and the stone beneath his feet gave way.

If it had not been for Dwalin, the hobbit's life would have ended then and there.

"Bilbo!" Clara clutched Bofur's hand, her mind forgetting her fear of the height for a moment, as she watched the hobbit flail with his arms to regain his balance, with Dwalin's hand tightly holding on to his shoulder.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin, being the one that had insisted of them continuing after nightfall, started to realise his mistake. They were going to get themselves killed this way.

"Watch out!" Dwalin's sudden, warning call alerted them all to the rock that came flying through the air. The mountain shook, as the rock hit and broke into smithereens that rained down over them as they pressed themselves against the cliff behind them and held on to anything they found.

"This is no thunderstorm", called Balin, his eyes squinted to see through the rain. "It is a thunder battle! Look!" He pointed towards the mountain opposite and as they all turned to look, they saw the form of a giant. A giant made entirely of the same grey stone as the mountains around him. The massive hands reached out and ripped a new rock from the mountain next to him, rising it high into the air.

"Well, bless me", called Bofur next to her and squeezed her hand tightly. "The legends are true. Giants! Stone giants!"

As he spoke, the giant let the rock fly in the air, at the same time as a second giant appeared from behind the company, the rock hitting it in the head.

"Take cover!" Thorin's call was heard through the noise of falling stones, thunder and the cliff vibrating and splitting under their feet. "You will fall!"

"What is happening?" Kili shouted through, his eyes open wide by the shock where he stood next to his brother.

His question never received a verbal reply. Instead, the ground split further and the cliff starting to lean in different directions.

"Kili! Grab my hand! Kili!" Fili's devastated call caused Clara to turn, only to find the front of the company being taken further from them. The cliff under their feet moved and helplessly, her part of the company watched as they were taken further from the others.

Looking up, she realised what was happening. The company had been standing on the knees of a third stone giant and it had had enough of just watching the battle. It wanted to be in it.

_Author's note: All right, so I know this is a bit shorter than the last few parts, but I'm quite certain it would not have been the same if I had not split it all up a little. So the rest of the fight with the giants will come in the next part.  
What more? Well, firstly I really want to thank you all that reviewed on the last part! You are all so bloody amazing and I don't know what to do with myself when I read what you have written about my story! So this part is pretty much dedicated to you all reviewers, especially that latest anonymous reviewer that made my day with his/hers beautiful words. Thank you so much! I wish I really could have replied to you personally and thanked you even further!  
Secondly (Yes, I know this is getting very long already), I am currently planning out what to do with Clara when it comes to the part in the goblin caves. I have plans both for her going with the dwarves and for her going with Bilbo. So now it's up to you to decide: Where do you want her to go? I have plans for both and I think it might be equally good, but I'm really having a super-hard time to decide. So if you have time to review, you are most welcome to also include a reply to this question. Thank you! 3_


	23. Thunder

**Thunder **

The giant rose, the movements causing the ground under the company's feet to rock and move violently. It was no easy business, holding on to the slippery stones in the pouring rain.

Clara had gripped Balin in fear, but as the cliff moved, she had been pulled back and forced to jump to the other side of the gap together with Bofur.

Also Bilbo had been trapped on this side of the gap and the hobbit and the girl exchanged a frightened look as they did their best to hold on and not tumble to their deaths in the ravine bellow. It was even deeper than Clara had thought from the beginning and her head swam as she looked down. The fear had gripped her and she pressed herself flat against the rock behind her. She did not want to be there. All that adventurousness she had felt when she had signed the contract in Bag End was gone and all she wanted was to be back in the cosy little hobbit-hole. Sitting in front of the fire with a cup of tea while the thunder rumbled ahead.

"Clara!" The scream cut through her thoughts and she snapped awake. How on earth had she succeeded with closing out everything like that?

Looking up, she found that the first stone giant had moved closer to theirs and the two were hitting each other with their fists. Their movements had caused Clara to stumble closer to the edge and looking down, she found that she was leaning dangerously forward, her arms flailing as she tried to regain her balance.

"Be careful, lass." A strong arm pulled her back, keeping her steady for a moment as she took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from shaking. It did not work very well.

As suddenly a rock flew through the air, hitting the head of their giant, they all stumbled and took hold of one another. The giant did his best to regain his balance, but to no good as it soon started to fall, forward towards the mountain it had come from, and the company felt the hope sink as they saw the hard rock coming towards them. They were going to get crushed.

The other part of the company watched in horror as the giant fell, the knee their friends stood on crushing into the side of the mountain.

"No!" Thorin's devastated call was heard through the pouring rain. "No!" The dwarf lord stared, in shock, as the giant fell down into the depths bellow, the knee empty of their friends. "Kili!" Thorin urged them forward, waving to his nephew in the back to come forward, as he skidded around a bend in the path.

"They are all right! They are alive!" Balin's call rung out, as Thorin stopped short and a relieved smile reached his lips. For a moment, he had felt the fear of losing not only half of his company, but also his eldest nephew. That would have been painful. Especially as he had been the one to urge them to continue even though they had had the storm threatening to unleash its powers upon them, above their heads.

"Where is Bilbo? Where is the hobbit?" Bofur sat up, his call alerting them all at the fact that Bilbo was not among them. "And Clara?"

The dwarves looked around them, their eyes searching the rocks around them, before Ori's sharp eyes found them.

"There!" He was sprawled on his stomach and he pointed down the side of the cliff.

Looking down, they all found the girl and the hobbit hanging from the side, their hands doing their best to keep their grip around the edge. It was a hard business, as they were both tired by now and the rock slippery by rain and mud.

"Get them!" Dwalin and Bofur threw themselves on the ground next to Ori and their hands stretched down for the two to grip.

Clara quickly gripped Dwalin's firm hand and was soon pulled up to safety, but Bilbo fell as he lost his grip, his hands finding another handhold right in time before he was about to fall to his death, like the giant.

Thorin, having watched the whole thing, swung himself over the side of the cliff and he quickly got the hobbit back up to safety.

But as also he lost his handhold, Dwalin's firm hand were his saviour.

"I thought we had lost our burglars." Dwalin breathed heavily where he stood, the rain dripping from his beard.

"Bilbo has been lost ever since he left home. Same with Clara. They should never have come. They have no place amongst us." Thorin's harsh words caused Clara to stiffen and she looked up. She had known Thorin was not happy with Bilbo and her coming along and not adjusting quickly to the road, but she had never thought he hated her in this way. It hurt.

Brushing her wet hair out of her face, she bent her head down and bit her lip. Her wound in the side had not been healing well since they had left Rivendell and a throbbing pain was now soaring through her body.

"Dwalin!" Thorin, being tired of the rain, called out and alerted them all on the fact that they were leaving.

Clara, being one of the few that was in the front, followed Dwalin in silence, while Fili struggled with helping Bombur up and Bilbo murmured something about stupid mountains. She could not do anything else but than to agree with that. She hated these mountains. She hated this quest. She hated herself for being stuck here. She just wanted to go home and forget about it all, even though she knew that was never going to happen.

They did not walk for long, before they found a dry cave. The entrance was small and Bombur had a hard time to get through, but it did soon get wider and open up into a big cave with a comfortable, sandy floor.

"It looks safe enough." Dwalin let his eyes search the cave, already making himself at home.

"Search to the back. Caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied." Thorin rubbed his hands together, as Dwalin walked further in and scanned the cave by the help of a quickly lit lantern. By the help of the light, the cave soon felt both cosy and warm and the dwarves wanted nothing more than to sleep.

"There is nothing here." Dwalin turned back, a sigh of relief escaping not only him but also most of the gathered.

Dropping his pack on the floor, Gloin rubbed his hands together, looking very pleased.

"Right then. Let us get a fire started." He was about to bend down and get his tinderbox, when Thorin stopped him.

"No, no fires. Not in this place." Spread murmurs was heard at this, but Thorin took no notice. "Get some sleep. We start at first light." The dwarves started to get themselves ready for sleep, while Balin frowned, concerned.

"We were to wait in the Mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan." The white-haired dwarf looked up at Thorin, his face showing both worry and fright.

"Plans change." Thorin sighed deeply, clearly tired as well, and turned away. "Bofur, take the first watch."

The dwarf with the hat did not look very happy about this, but he still nodded and seated himself by the opening of the cave, lighting his pipe while the others got ready for bed.

Clara, having the burning pain of the wound still cutting through her body, quickly moved away from the others to get some privacy. Her shirt was soaked and she took the time both to change into her spare one, that was only a little bit damp, and check the bandage around the wound.

The fabric had earlier been white as snow, keeping her calm that there was no bleeding, but now a small, red spot had appeared.

She knew that the bandage was thick and that it had to take quite a big amount of blood for it to be seen through it, so the sight was worrying.

But instead of worrying also the others by staring at it any longer, she buttoned her shirt and put her coat back on. She should get some sleep, just like the others. The wound would probably be better in the morning. Or so she hoped at least.

She had not slept for many hours, when someone shook her and a soothing voice called her awake.

"Clara, wake up. We need to leave now." Bilbo's voice seeped into her dreams and she opened her eyes and sat up groggily.

"Is it morning already?", she murmured and rubbed her eyes, before looking at the hobbit.

"No, it is still the middle of the night. But the storm has calmed down a little and we need to leave." The hobbit whispered quickly and quietly as he rolled his blankets together and fastened them to his backpack.

"Where are we going?" Clara frowned and fastened her cloak around her neck and then took care of her blankets.

"First to Rivendell and then back to The Shire. It is like Thorin said. We should never have come along in the first place." He rose and shouldered his backpack, before gripping his walking stick. "Come." He started to tiptoe over the sleeping dwarves and towards the front of the cave and after a moment of hesitation, Clara gripped her backpack and quickly followed him.

"Where do you think you are going?" They had almost reached the entrance, when Bofur jumped up from his guarding place and stopped them.

"Back to Rivendell." Bilbo looked firmly at the dwarf, while Clara stood by his shoulder, her eyes travelling back to the others. It pained her to be leaving them, seeing as they had taken such good care of her, but she knew it had to be done. After all, she would not be able to go on for long with a bleeding wound.

"No, no, you cannot turn back now. You are a part of the company. You are one of us!" Bofur's pleading voice caused her to focus back on the conversation and she met his gaze for a brief moment.

"I am not though, am I? Same with Clara. Thorin said we should never have come and he was right. I am not a Took, I am a Baggins. I do not know what I was thinking, I should never have run out my door." Bilbo sighed and Clara nodded in agreement. She felt the same way, excluding the part of running out the door and being a Baggins or a Took.

"You are homesick, I understand." Bofur's reassuring voice made her smile and she felt tears rise in her eyes. She was going to miss them all.

"No, you do not, you do not understand! None of you do. You are dwarves. You are used to this life; to living on the road; never settling in one place; not belonging anywhere!" Bilbo's words was harsh and Bofur's face was filled with an expression of both shock and hurt.

Also shock filled Clara, as she turned to look at the hobbit next to her. Guilt was already filling his eyes as she looked at him and she realised he was already regretting how harsh he had been. "I am sorry, I did not..." The hobbit murmured quietly, his head bent down in shame.

"No, you are right. We do not belong anywhere." Bofur sighed and turned to look out over the sleeping company. "I wish you all the luck in the world." He turned to look at them, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth."I really do." He placed his hand on Bilbo's shoulder for a moment, before he turned to Clara to do the same.

But the girl, feeling rather sentimental, surprised both him and herself by embracing him tightly.

"Take care of yourself and the others", she murmured in his ear, before she drew back and shot him a tearful smile.

Turning back towards the entrance, she started to follow Bilbo. The wind was still blowing hard outside and the rain swept in through the opening. The journey back would not be very pleasant.

"What is that?" Bofur's voice behind them, caused them to turn back. A faint, blue glow was filling the entrance of the cave and as the three looked down, they could see the source coming from the swords the girl and the hobbit carried.

Bilbo was quick at pulling his sword out partway, the blade glowing a pale blue in the dim light of the cave. Clara, feeling a danger creeping up, pulled hers out totally and gripping it in her hands, the light filling the cave growing stronger as her blade glowed even stronger.

"Orcs", she whispered, her voice sounding ghostly and frightened in the silence.

But the silence soon came to an end. A creaking noise started bellow, at the same time as Thorin sat up and gripped his own sword. His voice was what woke the rest, alerting them of the danger that was closing in.

"Wake up. Wake up!"

The call echoed through the cave, at the same moment as the floor broke up and sent them all falling down into the dark depths of the mountain itself.

_Author's note: So, in a try to be short: I love you guys! You are seriously the best reviewers and readers a writer can have! While I'm always feeling like my writing is really sucky (As English is not my first language), you always has something nice to say about it! I am really thankful for that! So thanks to Tierney Greyleaf (Cool name!) and Pergjithshme (If I spelled it wrong, I apologise) that reviewed on part 22 and made me really happy! Anyway, just to alert you a little too: I will be going to France and the Netherlands next Friday, meaning I won't be able to update in about two weeks. Seeing as I'm almost done with the movie-part of the story, I will try my best to finish that part before I go and then try and start planning on the next, book-based, part while I'm away. So if there isn't any updates in a while, don't worry. I haven't forgotten you! :)  
One last thing (This didn't get as short as I thought :/): I am thinking about changing my username, as I had one from the beginning, then changed one part of it and now I have started to realise it is not very suitable for anything, so I will be thinking about a new one. So if it says another name than "BeautifulBaggins" as the author of this story, then don't be worried ^^ (Sorry for my ranting. Valar, I'm such a rambler) _


	24. Gollum Gollum

**Gollum Gollum**

Sliding, tumbling, falling and shouting, the company fell down through a dark, steep tunnel. The only light came from Clara's sword, but as they were sliding quickly downwards, the light did not matter much.

They found themselves landing in a pile in a cage. It was made like a basket out of wood and it was placed right at the edge of a cliff. Around them, a big cave opened up, lightened up by torches. The ceiling was high above, barely visible in the dim light, and it made them all realise that they were in the heart of the mountain.

Groaning, they all tried to sit up and grab their things. Everything in the cave had fallen down with them and was spread around the little cage.

But to try and gather anything turned out to be useless. For within seconds, a hoard of slimy, snivelling creatures came down a path and attacked them.

They carried swords and whips and did not hesitate in using them, as they tore at the dwarves and quickly took everything they carried. Their bags did not stay with them and their weapons was taken as the creatures started to move back down the path, dragging them all along.

Clara, having the luck of holding her sword in her hand, only quickly shrugged her quiver off of her shoulders and held it closely, hidden underneath her cloak, as the creatures tore at her. Their claws were sharp and left burning scratches on her skin, but she did not care for it. It was nothing compared to the pain in her wound anyway.

As the creatures started to move away down the path, a hand quickly got hold around her ankle and pulled her forcefully down to the ground. Clara, almost expecting it to be one of the creatures that had decided to keep her for itself, kicked the hand off and then pulled her sword out to cut it in half, but Bilbo's friendly face calmed her immediately. He had probably saved her from a certain death and she was thankful for that.

Watching the creatures disappear with their friends, not even noticing that they had forgotten two of their prisoners, Clara rose once more and helped Bilbo to his feet. They had both lost their backpacks, but they still had their weapons and that was always something. It would at least help them fend of any other of those creatures.

"What was that?" Clara turned towards the hobbit, seeing that also he had pulled out his sword. Also his was glowing bright blue in the dim cave. "It cannot be orcs, can it?"

"I guess that must have been goblins", whispered Bilbo as they started to move forward, taking the same path as the creatures. "Or I have hit my head very hard." His face was smeared with dirt and small cuts from the slide down the tunnel and the ambush by the goblins, and Clara guessed she was probably looking just as terrible herself.

"You are probably right." Clara turned her sword in her hand and placed her quiver back over her shoulders to get her other hand free. "What now?" She looked to the hobbit, but never got a reply, as another goblin suddenly jumped out at them.

The creature snarled as Bilbo tried his best to fend it of and Clara watched in horror as the pair stumbled and rolled towards the edge of the cliff. The chasm bellow them did not look very nice.

Raising her sword, she hit it with the flat side in the head of the goblin in a try to get it to change its focus. Without any luck.

The goblin merely snarled once more and its hand reached out and gripped Clara's ankle tightly, pulling her down with it and Bilbo as they started to fall down. Down, down, down, through the heart of the mountain. Into the very centre of the Misty Mountains.

"Those stupid dwarves", murmured Gandalf to himself as he rose from his kneeling position on the ground. He leaned heavily on his staff as he looked up towards the closest mountain. He already knew from the remnants of a fire by his feet, that the dwarves had left many days ago and that they were not waiting for him. "Eithad naugol", he cursed to himself as he started of up the mountainside in a quick pace. He already knew they were in trouble.

The sudden howl of a warg in the night, caused him to turn and his old eyes searched the valley he was just leaving. At the other side, the form of a warg pack could be seen, the shadows of orcs on their backs. One of the wargs, white as the snow on the mountains, and its rider, an orc just as pale, caused his heart to jump and he fixed his eyes upon the pair. He had hoped for that the rumours he had heard of Azog's return had only been rumours, but now, shining almost as bright as the stars overhead, was the pale orc and his white warg. As alive as ever.

The pack was standing still, just like him, but as another howl was heard and they started of towards the mountains and his place on the mountainside, he quickly turned back and started walking even faster. The ache in his old legs was long forgotten. The dwarves needed his help and he had to give it to them. The orcs could not reach them first.

The soft dripping of water and a sour smell, was what called Clara back to reality and she groaned as the pain reached her body. How long had she fallen? For how long had she been laying here? Everything hurt as she tried to move and another groan escaped her lips as she turned her head to look around.

Her eyes landed on the goblin. The creature was laying on his back, like her, a few metres away, and it looked like also it had taken quite a knock by the fall.

As it did not move for quite a few minutes, Clara was just about to get up and start looking for her sword and Bilbo, when a wheezing suddenly filled the darkness.

From around a rock, came... something crawling. The creature was smaller than a goblin, with big, blue eyes and a skinny body. It had long arms and legs and feet similar to Bilbo's.

"Yes. Yes. Yes!" The creature hissed to himself, as he shuffled towards the goblin. "Gollum, gollum." A strange, gurgling noise came from his throat as he circled around the goblin.

Somewhere nearby, she knew that also Bilbo was watching. None of them spoke, though. Instead, they watched as life suddenly once more reached the goblin, as it growled and tried to free itself from the creature that was trying to pull it away by its feet.

Though the flailing goblin did not get to show its rage for long. The blue-eyed creature quickly gripped a rock and knocked the goblin harshly in the head, causing it to become unconscious once more.

As the creature moved, a sudden flash of gold glimmered in the air. It was only for a moment and a hard thing to spot with the action that was going on, but Clara saw it out of the corner of her eye. Though it was nothing she really put any thought into.

The creature threw the rock away in rage, as it once more started to pull the goblin away, murmuring to itself. "Nasty goblinses." It shot the goblin a glare as it rounded a corner. "Better than old bones, precious. Better than nothing." The last words flew through the air, before the shuffling sounds slowly faded away and the creature was gone again.

Clara turned back towards Bilbo, the two exchanging a frightened glance, before they sat up and quickly found their swords. They still shone faintly blue, letting them know that the goblin was still alive.

They had landed on a group of big, slimy mushrooms and this had probably kept them from breaking very bone in their bodies. Even though they smelled terribly, Clara was thankful for them. Someone did not want them dead. Not yet at least.

Bilbo started walking, quietly following the creature. Why he was doing that, Clara did not know, but she supposed he had a plan. Besides, there were no other way than up from where they stood, and climbing did not feel like a very tempting option.

As Bilbo suddenly stopped and bent down, something golden glimmering between his fingers as he held it up to look at, she frowned and felt a shiver travel down her spine. Whatever it was he had in his hand, it was something she did not like.

The hobbit did, however, not take any notice of the girl's worried looks andinstead put the piece of gold into the pocket of his waistcoat and kept on going.

It did not take long, before the drifting voice of the creature was once more heard through the darkness.

"Too many bones, precious! Nothing of flesh!" The voice was complaining, probably about the goblin's skinny body. "Shut up! Get its skin off. Start with its head." By the second sentence, the voice turned harsher, more demanding, making it sound as if the creature was holding a conversation with himself.

As Clara and Bilbo turned a corner, they found themselves on the brink of a small lake. A cliff rose in the middle of the water, the creature silhouetted on top of it, apparently skinning the goblin as it sung a little song.

"The cold hard lands

They bites our hands

They gnaws out feet.

The rocks and stones

They are like old bones

All bare of meat.

Cold as death

They have no breath

It is good to eat!"

The creature rhythmically smashed a stone into the goblin's body, ending its life by smashing its head against the cold ground.

The girl and the hobbit, standing behind a rock, listening to the creature, watched in shock as the light of their swords suddenly flickered and died. The goblin must be dead.

Turning to look towards the island, fear gripped them as they realised the creature was gone. Nothing was seen, nothing was heard, making it all feel rather uneasy.

If it was a footstep or another kind of sound that alerted them, they did not know. Something just told them to look up, and as they did, they found the creature perched on the rock above them. The pale, big eyes glimmered coldly in the dark as it studied them for a moment, before swinging itself down on the floor before them, a grin reaching its lips.

"Bless us and splash us, precious. That is a meaty mouthful!" The creature licked it's lips as it watched them carefully, not really liking the sharp metal the two held in their hands.

"Who are you?" Clara eyed the creature coldly, not trusting it even the slightest.

"Gollum. Gollum." Only the gurgling sound escaped its throat as it advanced towards them, its eyes shining with curiosity. Clara frowned. Was his name Gollum?

Coming too close for comfort, made Bilbo react and he pushed his sword forward, the tip placing itself at the throat of the creature.

"Ahh", spat the creature, not liking the steal against his skin. "Gollum. Gollum. Ack." It gurgled and spat, glaring up at the two before him.

"Back. Stay back. I am warning you, do not come any closer." Gollum, for this was indeed the name of the creature, watched Bilbo as he spoke and pushed him backwards with his little sword.

As Gollum snarled and bent his head in anger, also Clara raised her sword. Though the blue light did not shine from it any more, it was still quite a powerful sight for the snivelling creature on the ground bellow her.

"It has got an elfish blade, but it is not an Elfs. Not an Elfs, no." Gollum glared up at the two, his eyes darting from what he recognised as a human, to the other, smaller, person. "What is it, precious? What is it?" He spat the last words, feeling quite miserable over the fact that he had two sharp, elfish swords pointed at him. This was one terrible ambush.

"My name is Clara. Clara Walsh." Clara narrowed her eyes, the earlier pity that had stung her heart as she had first seen the creature all gone. "The elves call me Lùthien Helyanwë. I am elf friend, just as my friend here."

"My name is Bilbo Baggins." Bilbo took a deep breath, as he eyed the creature by his feet.

"Bagginses? What is a Bagginses, precious?" Gollum frowned deeply, muttering to himself. He did not like humans, not at all. Too big and noisy with sharp swords like the one before him. But the smaller one interested him.

"I am a Hobbit from The Shire." Bilbo swallowed hard, as Gollum looked at him, clearly very interested.

"Oh!" Gollum chuckled to himself. "We like goblinses, batses and fishes, but we has not tried hobbitses before. Is it soft? Is it... juicy?" Snarling, he approached again, hunger shining in his eyes. The goblin he had caught had long since left his mind. Now he craved hobbit, and maybe even some of that skinny human too. She would make a good dessert.

"Now, now, keep your distance." Bilbo waved his sword against Gollum, pushing him back once more. "I will use this if I have to." Another snarl escaped the creature's lips, as also the second sword came towards him.

"Leave him alone, you worm." Clara spat out the words, the tip of her sword touching Gollum's neck. She probably would have cut his throat right then, right there, if Bilbo had not stayed her hand.

"We do not want any trouble, do you understand? Just show us the way to get out of here and we will be on our way." Bilbo sighed, quickly shooting Clara a look that told her to stay back and let him handle the conversation. Her sword was interfering too much for his liking.

A bit annoyed, Clara lowered her sword and stepped back, seating herself on a slippery rock as the creature spoke once more.

"Why, is it lost?" The long bony fingers clutched the top of another rock, the place Gollum had escaped to when the swords had come too close for comfort. The rock therefore separated him from Bilbo, making him feel a little better and safer.

"Yes. Yes, and I want to get unlost as soon as possible." Bilbo looked weakly at the creature, a bit tired of both the conversation and of the way nothing seemed to be going his way.

"Ooh! We knows!" The sudden cry of excitement that came from the creature, causing his face to light up in a massive smile, made Clara jump in shock. What on earth was going on with this thing? "We knows safe paths for hobbitses! Safe paths in the dark!" Gollum jumped on the spot and pointed towards the little lake, causing the others to turn their heads in that direction.

But suddenly, just as quick as it had come, the cheery side disappeared and Gollum snarled at himself. "Shut up!", he cried and glared down into the ground, shocking the two others even more.

"I didn't say anything." Bilbo raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at the creature, still gripping his sword tightly in his hand.

"Was not talking to you", snarled Gollum, as he quickly rose his head from behind the rock to look at the hobbit.

Clara shot Bilbo a confused glance, as the creature once more bent down and a murmur escaped his lips from behind the rock. "But, yes we was, precious, we was." It was once again using the softer and nicer voice and Clara sighed tiredly. Just their luck, getting stuck with the only crazy person in these stinking Mountains.

"Look, I do not know what your game is, but I..." Bilbo spoke slowly, but got cut of by another cry of excitement from the snivelling creature.

"Games?!" Gollum quickly took a leap up on the rock and his eyes shone with happiness and excitement. "We love games, does we not, precious? Does it like games? Does it? Does it? Does it like to play?"

Both Clara and Bilbo looked rather confused about the sudden turn of events, but none of them said anything of it. Instead, Bilbo replied warily.

"Maybe?"

The creature looked quite happy about this and held up his thin hands with the long fingers, as he started to recite.

"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees? Up, up, up it goes, yet, never grows." The large eyes turned to look at Bilbo expectantly, as the hobbit frowned for a moment before he replied.

"The mountain", he asked carefully, taken aback as Gollum laughed to himself.

"Yes, yes. Let us have another one, eh? Yes, come on, do it again. Do it, do it again. Ask us:" Gollum looked expectantly at Bilbo, while urging him on by waving his hand. But Bilbo never had the chance, for before he could speak, Gollum suddenly snarled and his voice turned foul. "No! No more riddles. Finish him off. Finish them now. Gollum, gollum." Gollum leaped down from the rock, quickly walking towards the water, while the gurgling sound escaped his throat.

When he then suddenly turned and started advancing back towards Bilbo, he was stopped by both the hobbit holding up his hand and Clara directing her sword towards his throat.

"No! No, no, no. I wa-want to play", Bilbo stuttered, quite breathless by the shock. "I do. I want to play. I can see that you are very good at this. So why do we not have a game of riddles? Yes, just you and me?" Bilbo quickly shot Clara a demanding gaze, before lowering himself down so that he was the same height as Gollum.

The girl stepped back, seating herself once more on the rock as Gollum shuffled close to Bilbo, whispering excitedly while his eyes darted from the cave around him to Bilbo and back again.

"Yes! Yes, just, just...just us."

"Yes. Yes. And... and if I win, you show us the way out." Bilbo looked up at the creature, that looked back, thoughtful.

"Yes. Yes..." Gollum was about to continue, when the foul voice once took over and caused him to snarl and turn away. "And if it loses, what then?" A reply quickly came from the softer voice. "Well, if it loses, precious, we will eats it." A maniacal laugh came drifting from the creature, before it turned back towards Bilbo, a smug smile finding its way to his lips. "If Baggins loses, we eats it whole." Tilting his head, a hungry glance reached the blue depths as Gollum awaited Bilbo's reply.

A long pause followed, where Bilbo apparently tried to decide what to do. It was not an easy choice for him, for he already knew that the creature probably was going to try and cheat.

Turning his head, he exchanged a quick look with Clara. He knew her thoughts already before she spoke.

"Let us just leave. If he tries anything, we will kill him." The hobbit watched the fierce look in the girl'seyes and at once he had made up his mind. He was not going to wander around, lost, in the darkness with her. He was going to get out into the light and then help her save the dwarves. To kill their only guide would just be stupid.

Gollum waited patiently, knowing that the hobbit did not have much of a choice. He could already feel the taste of the juicy flesh on his tongue, when Bilbo spoke.

"Well enough", he said and rose, sheathing his sword once more. It was at least worth a shot.

_Author's note: All right, so I finished this now and thought I could publish it while I still remembered to :) I am currently working on the next, so publishing this is mostly just a short break in it all :) Also, I know a few of you thought I should let Clara tag along with the dwarves, but as I realised I really hadn't thought those ideas through, I did it this way, __**but**__ I will still be writing a bit about the dwarves and their escape and maybe even let Clara meet up with them somewhere. For she does not, after all, have a ring that turns her invisible, right?  
Anyway, I just want to say thank you to the three lovely people that reviewed on the last part (Tierney Greyleaf, Anon & Pergjithshme). You guys are amazing, just like all you readers out there! Also, I have now changed my name into Gilraen Iathrim, which is the name I got when doing a test plus adding Iathrim, which means ""Elves of Doriath", which is "my" origin (Dorthonion). _

_Translations: _

_Eithad naugol - Insulting dwarves (Hopefully this is grammatically right. I am currently experimenting with Sindarin and the Dorthonion words) _


	25. Torture & threat

**Torture & threat**

While Bilbo and Clara had fallen down the chasm, met Gollum and one of them being captured by goblins, the dwarves had not been having a very good time.

They had been brought to a large cave, larger than the one before, and summoned to meet the goblin king.

The king was a huge goblin, almost ten times the size of the smaller ones. He was fat, fatter than they had expected, and his chin hung as if as a beard down onto his chest.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom?" The king squinted at them through the light of the torches and leaned forward on his throne, built by the bones of earlier prisoners. The Great Goblin, as he was so politely called by his subjects, took a step down from his throne, his massive foot crushing smaller goblins as it was set down. "Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" He walked closely to the dwarves, his terrible breath causing them to flinch as it hit them.

"Dwarves, your Malevolence", replied Grinnah, one of his closest advisers.

"Dwarves?" The Great Goblin looked thoughtfully at his prisoners, as the goblins around them pushed them further forward.

"We found them on the front porch", said Grinnah, a smug smile on his ugly little face.

"Well, do not just stand there! Search them! Every crack, every crevice." The Great Goblin made a quick gesture with the mace he held and then watched as his subjects tore at the poor dwarves, throwing their weapons into a pile before the feet of the king.

"What are you doing in these parts?" The Great Goblin watched the dwarves carefully, his eyes searching for a familiar face. "Speak!" Not a sound was, however, heard at his demand. Sighing deeply, ignoring the glares he received from the dwarves, he called out to his fellow goblins. "Well then, if they will not talk, we will make them squawk!" The gathered goblins cheered loudly as he continued. "Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker!" He smiled smugly, before he turned to point at Ori. "Start with the youngest."

Ori, with a frightened look on his face, took a quick step backwards, and Dori gripped his shoulder in a protective manner. He was not going to let his little brother get hurt.

"Wait!" The call came from Thorin, whom had been in the middle of the group and not seen until now, when he started to push his way to the front of the group.

"Well, well, well, look who it is." The Great Goblin grinned at the dark-haired dwarf. "Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain." The goblin chuckled to himself and bowed exaggeratedly. "Oh, but I am forgetting. You do not have a mountain. And you are not a king. Which makes you... nobody, really." He grinned as his words caused his subjects to roar in amusement. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached."The Great Goblin met Thorin's gaze as he spoke, seeing both the confusion and fright in them. "Perhaps you know of whom I speak? An old enemy of yours. A pale Orc astride a white Warg." The goblin slowed his speech as he spoke the last words, making sure they really sunk in.

"Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago." Every part of the dwarf's body was tense, as he tried to keep himself and his voice from shaking. He could not believe what he was hearing.

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Great Goblin laughed, before stepping back and turning to a smaller goblin, seated in a basket hanging from a rope. "Send word to the pale orc. Tell him I have found his price."

As the little goblin cackled to himself and pulled a lever, swooshing out into the darkness, the Great Goblin took his place on his throne. "Grinnah, Búrzglob, I am hungry. Bring me some fish from the lake." He turned towards the two goblin, that bowed before him. "I need something to chew on while I watch the show." His small eyes turned back towards the dwarves, while the two serving goblins grabbed a torch and headed towards the dark tunnels, leading down to the destined lake.

"Now you have really blown it, Clara", she murmured to herself, as she stared out into the darkness. She was lost. More lost than she had ever been in her entire life and she knew there were no guarantee she would get out alive. "You are going to end up like that snivelling Gollum down there. Living alone, catching fish while your eyes grow ever bigger." She sighed and pushed her sword into its sheath before seating herself on the ground, her back leaned against the wall behind her.

All she had tried to do, was to find a way out, while Bilbo and Gollum had held their game of riddles. She had decided to leave right when they started, so that she could have a chance to return before they finished.

But somewhere she had taken a wrong turn and ended up in a pitch black tunnel that never seemed to end.

As there were no goblins anywhere, her sword did not shine and she did not either find anything that she could use for a torch.

"Búrzglob, can you see something?" The goblin squinted out into the darkness, as he pushed his comrade in the ribs with his elbow.

"Where?" The other goblin grunted and raised his torch higher.

"There." Grinnah pointed out into the darkness, his finger showing Búrzglob in the direction of a body.

"It is a human." Búrzglob smelled the air, as the two quickly shuffled forward. Their claws made scrapping sounds on the stones bellow their feet and therefore alerted the human on their arrival. But before she had the chance to do something, the goblins surrounded her and pressed a filthy cloth to her mouth, immediately putting her unconscious by some hidden chemical.

"Yet she is not totally human", murmured Grinnah, as he took the torch from Búrzglob and watched as the other goblin tied the girl up and hung her over his shoulder. She was lighter than he had expected. "Something is wrong with her." The two goblins started of in the direction they had come from, their earlier mission to fetch fish from the hidden lake pushed aside. They knew the king could wait with his food when he was brought yet another prisoner. He already had thirteen dwarves up there in his throne room, but a fourteenth would not hurt him much. Not when it could be very useful for their torture of the others.

"Did I not tell you to return with my fish?" The Great Goblin looked down at the two smaller goblins by his feet, his eyes narrowed.

"I am sorry, your Malevolence", hissed Grinnah, as he nodded to Búrzglob to put their prisoner down. "But we found yet another prisoner for you."

The Great Goblin looked down at the girl, still unconscious from whatever had been in the cloth. He poked at her with his staff, causing her to move and her eyes flicker open.

"And why would I be interested in a mere human", asked the king, his words now also alerting the dwarves at what was going on. "I have Thorin Oakenshield in my halls, with the pale Orc awaiting his head with a grand sum. She will be of no use for me." His large foot kicked the girl over, causing her to roll over the dirty floor in the direction of his other prisoners.

"Clara." Kili breathed out the name where he stood, in the front of the group next to his uncle. He took a step forward, as if to help her, but Fili's hand quickly pulled him back.

"We cannot put her in any more danger", his brother whispered in his ear. "As soon as he finds out she is with us, he will use her to put pressure on uncle."

"But..." Kili threw his brother a quick glance, only to see him shake his head warningly.

"You cannot do anything about it. You have no weapons, lad." Also Balin whispered quietly to him, having overheard the conversation from his spot behind them.

Miserable about the entire situation, Kili stayed back, his eyes glued to the girl on the dirty boards before them. Her eyes were open, but her look dazed and glazed, as if she was not really there yet. Whatever those goblins had done to her, they were truly going to pay for it as soon as he got his weapons back. That was for sure.

"Ah, here we have them!" The Great Goblin called out happily a moment later, his massive body flying up from his throne as he started singing and dancing a silly little dance. "Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You will be beaten and battered, from racks you will be hung! You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin-town."

As the Great Goblin sung, dozens of his subjects carried instruments of torture towards them. While they looked rather primitive, the dwarves guessed that they would still be very painful when it actually came to it.

A sudden shriek in fear, suddenly cut through the noise and the metallic sound of a sword in its sheath, being thrown to the ground, echoed among them.

Grinnah, the goblin that had been one of the two to capture Clara, had been examining the weapons the dwarves had been carrying. He had reached Orcrist, the sword Thorin had found in the troll-hoard and it was this he had quickly thrown away. For as he had pulled the sword out a few inches from its sheath, the blue light of the elven blade had met his eyes.

The shriek had alerted the other goblins and they all, including the king, had quickly cleared a circle around it.

The Great Goblin had quickly returned to his throne and it was here he was now sitting, whimpering like a child at the sight of the sword. "I know that sword", he called, his eyes weak and shaking. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!" His subjects shrieked in fear, their eyes wide.

And then the fear passed and they started to beat the dwarves with their whips and swords. They leaped upon them, their claws tearing at their skin and clothes, their teeth biting everything their could.

Somewhere in this madness, had Grinnah reached Clara once more. The girl was slowly returning from her dazed state and she tried her best to fight of the sharp claws of the goblin.

"I am not leaving you until you have given me a little price." The goblin hissed in her ear as one of his hands gripped the braid her hair was in, tightly, and the other pulled a knife from its sheath. "Human hair are said to make nice rope. Especially such golden hair as yours." He pulled her head backwards and raised his knife, but another callfrom the Great Goblin stopped him and made Clara able to push him away.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!" He pointed towards the dwarves, his eyes wide with anger. "Cut of his head!" The last sentence was directed towards the group of goblins that held Thorin down, and one of them quickly pulled out a knife of the same model as Grinnah's.

That was when Gandalf made his entrance. The wizard had been travelling through the Mountains at his fastest speed, the orcs ever at his heel, as he made his way towards the town of the goblins. He had known what had happened as soon as he had found the cave and the remnants of the dwarves short hours there.

Taking another way in, he had quickly travelled through the dark tunnels towards where he knew the biggest cave lay. His hands had held his staff and his own elven sword, Glamdring, shining ever brighter as he had closed in on the goblins and their prisoners.

He had seen the chaos and the poor state the dwarves were in and by a flicker of his staff, he had sent a bright wave of light through the giant cave. The wave, so bright and harsh, had thrown every goblin and dwarf to the ground, and they now slowly started to move again, looking in shock at the tall wizard whom stood before them.

"Take up arms", he called, his voice demanding and firm. "Fight. Fight!" He did not need to say that twice, for the dwarves were already quickly up at their feet, gripping their weapons.

"Are you all right?" Kili had been quick with getting to Clara, his hand gripping hers as he helped her up from the ground.

"I think so." She looked up at him, her free hand pulling her sword out of its sheath. She had been lucky the goblins had not taken hers away from her.

"He wields the Foe-Hammer, the Beater! Bright as daylight!" The Great Goblin had found Gandalf's sword with his eyes and he pointed at it, as he crawled backwards from the ongoing fight.

"Kili!" The call alerted the dark-haired dwarf and his hand flew out, catching the sword that was thrown to him.

"Come on." He swung the sword and pulled his quiver over his head, a cocky smile reaching his lips. "Let us get out of here." His hand dropped Clara's, as also she smiled and swung her sword, the edge of it cutting through a goblin as if it had been butter. She had only killed orcs at a distance before and this new meeting with killing, disgusted her. But she knew that it had to be done.

"Follow me." Gandalf called out over the battle, waving his staff at the dwarves. "Quick! Run!"

"Dago din!", Clara called, her sword cutting through yet another goblin as she ran after the wizard, her head barely registering that she spoke in Elvish. "Lacho calad! Drego morn!"

_Author's note: All right, so I know that they parts are coming very often right now and if anyone doesn't like that, then I'm sorry. But I'm trying my best to finish the movie-part of it all before I leave on Friday and updates therefore come more often. I am planning for it to be at least two parts more of this thing, but depending on my mood, it can get longer and get extended to three or four. So if I'm lucky, I will be able to finish it before Friday, if not, then you will have to wait about two weeks before I can upload the last ones. But I will let you know which one it will be!_

_Dago din! - Kill them!  
Lacho calad! Drego morn! - Flame light! Flee night! / May light flare! May darkness flee! (Personally I like the second one, which is the literal translation, better)  
_


	26. Riddling riddles

**Riddling riddles**

"Well, Baggins first." Gollum rested his chin upon the rock before him, his eyes fixed on the hobbit before him. None of them noticed as the girl quickly got up and left them. Or, maybe Gollum did, but if he did, he did not say anything of it. The human was of no interest to him, that was for sure.

Bilbo thought for a moment, before he looked down on the creature and started speaking his riddle.

"Thirty white horses on a red hill", he said, taking a short pause before continuing. "First they champ, then they step, then they stand still." It was a rather easy one and every hobbit back home knew it, but apparently not Gollum.

For the creature knitted his brow, his mouth opening and closing a few times as he thought he had the answer. It was not until minutes later, he finally gave his answer, though rather questioningly.

"Teeth?" He looked up at Bilbo, hopefully, and as he saw the unhappy appearance that crossed the hobbit's face at the answer. "Teeth!", he exclaimed and laughed, the sound coming from deep in his throat. "Yes, my precious." He looked up at Bilbo and lifted his head from the rock, opening his mouth wide. "But we... we... we only have nine." He snarled at the hobbit, before he got up and started shuffling towards the disgusted Bilbo. "Our turn." Gollum grinned, before he started reciting. "Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters."

Bilbo opened his mouth, as if in thought, before he looked down at Gollum.

"Just a minute." He turned slowly, his feet leading him down towards the water, while Gollum smiled excitedly, his face getting a look of realisation.

"Oh, oh!", he exclaimed in his happy and excited voice. "We knows! We knows!" He was about to continue speaking, apparently to give the right answer, when his face turned grim and his voice foul. "Shut up", he muttered to himself, as Bilbo turned slightly to give him a look. That Gollum was not someone he liked very much.

His eyes turned back to the water, as his head repeated the riddle over and over. He knew this one, he was sure of it.

It was then a faint breeze rippled over the water, tiny little waves appearing by his feet. And realisation hit.

"Wind", he whispered to himself, a small smile appearing on his lips as he turned back towards Gollum. "It is wind! Of course it is." His answer earned a snarl in reply, as Gollum shot him a glare.

"Very clever, hobbitses, very clever." The creature muttered viciously and started to crawl closer, something that Bilbo did not appreciate.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah", he warned and pulled his sword back out of its sheath, directing it towards Gollum as he recited his next riddle. "A... box without hinges, key o-or lid, yet golden treasure inside is...hid." He griped his little sword tightly, his eyes following Gollum as he turned his back and started murmuring to himself, his hands making gestures as he spoke.

"A box... and a lid... and then a key..." He frowned, his mind trying to decipher the riddle.

"Well?" Bilbo was slowly growing impatient. He had now noticed the Clara was gone and he needed to go find her before she got lost.

"It is nasty", murmured Gollum, and looked up, before he continued. "Uh, box, uh..."

"Give up?" Bilbo's words caused the creature to wail and pound the floor with his fists.

"Give us a chance, precious, give us a chance." Gollum puckered his face deeply, thinking hard, until it suddenly came to him and he chuckled to himself. "Eggses! Eggses!" Another laugh escaped his mouth. "What crunchy little eggses, yes. Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes." His face disappeared away into long-lost times and Bilbo's focus flickered, as a bat screeched and flew somewhere nearby.

"Ahh. We have one for you." The voice of Gollum came from behind him, but when he turned, there was no one to be found. "All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal." The sound of Gollum's voice came all around him, floating through the dim light of the cave. "Answer us." The oily tone seeped into his mind, making his thoughts swirl and heart pound. That was one he did not know.

"Give me a moment, please. I gave you a good long while." Bilbo frowned, trying to think as quick as possible, as his eyes scanned the rocks around him for any sign of Gollum. The creature was starting to scare him. "I do not know this one", he murmured to himself, on his way towards despair. What if he actually lost?

"Is it tasty?" The echo pulled the words out, making them sound even more horrible. "Is it scrumptious?" Bilbo turned as the voice was heard from the other direction. "Is is crunchable?" The voice was now heard from straight behind him and the hobbit quickly turned back, his eyes meeting Gollum's and his sword pointing at his throat.

Gollum had his long, bony hands reached out and Bilbo quickly realised that the creature had been on his way trying to strangle him while he was not aware of it.

"Let me think. Let me think." Bilbo breathed quickly as he stepped back from the creature and started to pace back and forth.

"It is stuck", hissed Gollum happily as he watched the hobbit. "Bagginses is stuck and Walshes is lost." He grinned, before raising his hands and shrugging. "Time is up." He shook his head slowly, before shifting, his entire body ready to leap onto the hobbit.

"Time..." Bilbo whispered to himself, before turning back towards Gollum. "Ti..." He choked on the word and quickly started over. "The answer is time."

Gollum snarled, his frustration seeping over into his voice as he glared at the hobbit. "Actually, it was not that hard." Bilbo straightened himself up, trying to regain some of his confidence. He still had to come up with one last riddle.

"Last question. Last chance." Gollum spoke between gritted teeth, his hand reaching down to grip a loose stone as he waited for Bilbo to make his choice of question.

"Ah..." Bilbo frowned, his mind suddenly blank. He knew now that the creature would not hesitate with killing him if he failed.

"Ask us." Gollum tilted his head, his voice soft. "Ask us!" As he spoke again, his voice turned harsh and cold and the words echoed around them, filled with rage.

"Yes, yes, all right." Bilbo closed his eyes for a moment, before he strolled down to the water once more and absent-mindedly rubbed his hand over his side.

That was when he felt it. Something round and solid inside his pocket. Frowning, he put his hand inside, only to feel the ring inside. "What have I got in my pocket?", he murmured to himself, as his fingers stroke the soft gold.

"That is not fair!" Gollum's call caused him to look up and he quickly realised that also the creature had heard what he had said. "It is not fair! It is against the rules!" Frustrated, Gollum sent the stone he had been clutching flying through the air.

"Hmf." Bilbo gasped at the stone, his eyebrows rising in surprise. The creature was one to speak of rules!

"Ask us another one", complained Gollum, not amused by the sudden turn of events.

"No, no, no, no." Bilbo shook his head quickly. "You said 'Ask me a question.' Well, that is my question." He looked firmly at Gollum. "What have I got in my pocket?"

With a snarl, Gollum jumped of his rock and started to approach Bilbo, while the hobbit quickly backed away and held out his sword as protection.

"Three guesses, precious. It must give us three." The hissing creature held up three of his bony fingers and Bilbo nodded.

"Three guesses. Very well, guess away."

"Handses!" Gollum shouted out his guess, but Bilbo was quick at withdrawing his hand from his pocket.

"Wrong, guess again."

Gollum snarled and threw himself on the ground, his hands gripping and throwing away things he found as he murmured quickly to himself.

"Fish-bones, goblin's teeth, wet shells, bat's wings..." Suddenly, he seemed to get an idea and quickly called out to Bilbo "Knife!" His second, foul voice was quick at scolding. "Oh, shut up", it hissed.

"Wrong again. Last guess." Bilbo watched as Gollum frowned, before the creature turned around to shout something new.

"String!" Realisation hit him as he spoke and he was quick at adding a second item. "Or nothing!"

"Two guesses at once, wrong both times." Bilbo could not help but to exhale in relief, as Gollum fell to the floor with his face in his hands, sobbing. "So, come then. I won the game. You promised to show me the way out." Bilbo nodded towards the tunnel, eager to get out of the filthy, dim cave.

"Did we say so, precious?", snarled Gollum as he sat back up and glared up at Bilbo. "Did we say so?" Hate shone in his eyes as he watched the hobbit carefully. "What has it got in its pocketses?" He moved towards Bilbo, his eyes narrowed.

"That is no concern of yours." Bilbo raised his head and pointed his sword towards Gollum to keep him at bay. "You lost."

"Lost?" Gollum moved closer, a grin reaching his lips. "Lost?" His hand reached his side. "Lost?" As his hand did not find what he was searching for, the grin fell from his face as his hands searched his body and the dirty piece of cloth he wore around his waist. "Where is it?" His sudden shriek, caused Bilbo to step back and he watched in confusion as Gollum suddenly started to search the cave, throwing things that way and this and splashing through the shallows of the lake. "Where is it? No! Where is it? No! No!" His voice grew louder as he once more started sobbing and his eyes searched the ground around him. "Lost! Curses and splashes, my precious is lost!" The creature looked truly miserable and Bilbo watched him, pity slowly filling his heart.

For he knew what Gollum had lost. And he knew he would not get it back.

Quickly, he pulled the ring out of his pocket, his hand clutching it tightly behind his back as he pointed his sword towards the snivelling creature before him.

"What have you lost?"

"Must not ask us! Not is business! No! Gollum, Gollum." Gollum wailed and gurgled, his face bent over the water. Why did the terrible hobbit torture him when his precious was gone? Lost? Disappeared?

And that was when he finally understood. Understood why the hobbit had asked him such a tricky question and why he could not find his precious birthday present. "What has it got in its _nasty _little pocketses?", he snarled, his face knitted in anger as he turned towards the hobbit, whom clutched one hand tightly behind his back and pointed his sword at Gollum in fear. "He stole it", Gollum wailed, his hand reaching for a stone. "He stole it!" He clutched the stone tightly in his hand. "He stole it!" With an angry snarl, he sent the stone flying towards the hobbit and the piece of rock hit the small sword with a crash, before it fell to the ground again.

Bilbo stared in fear at Gollum for a moment, before he turned and fled.

"You thought you could escape me?" The Great Goblin grinned at them.

They had been running for ages, or so it felt like at least, causing dozens of goblins to lose their lives. It was first now, when they had reached this bridge, that they had been stopped by the large goblin.

He had burst up through the floor of the bridge, stopping them in their escape and he, of course, looked very pleased with this. "What are you going to do now, wizard?" Grinning, he swung his maze as Gandalf, causing the old wizard to stumble backwards, only to be caught by a few of the dwarves.

With a serious expression, Gandalf raised his staff, striking it into the eye of the Great Goblin. The goblin wailed in pain and dropped his maze, both of his large hands clutching his eye.

Now using his sword, the grey wizard swung it forward, cutting through the goblin's stomach and causing the massive form to fall to his knees and clutch the new wound. "That will do it." The Great Goblin looked up at Gandalf in defeat, right as the sword was swung again, this time cutting through the goblin's fat neck and sending him to the floor, dead.

The bridge rocketed under their feet by the weight of the goblin, and without warning it broke, sending them plummeting down into the chasm bellow.

Screams of surprise from the dwarves floated away into the dark, as they sped fast and faster down the slopes, jumping over rocks and bumping around.

As the wreckage of boards and ropes finally sled to a stop, spread groans where heard as they all tried to move and get up.

"Well that could have been worse", commented Bofur, as Clara pulled herself out from under the wreckage right in time, as the body of the Great Goblin suddenly came crushing down on top of it all.

"You have got to be joking", groaned Dwalin, as the others cried out by the pain in their squashed limbs.

"Stop complaining. Something worse is coming." Clara helped Fili to his feet and nodded up the slopes.

"Gandalf!" Kili was quick at alerting the wizard, as a hoard of goblins came streaming down towards them.

"There is too many. We cannot fight them." Dwalin, helping his brother up, shot Gandalf a helpless look.

"Only one thing will save us. Daylight. Come on!" The wizard gestured towards a new, dark tunnel. "Here, on your feet."

Clara cast one quick look behind her, before she quickly headed towards the tunnel, her glowing sword held high as she sprinted through the darkness, wishing for them all to get out safe. Including Bilbo.

_Author's note: All right, so another part. I know they are coming very often now, but as I said yesterday, I am leaving for France on Friday and I'm trying my best to finish the movie-part of all this before then.  
So, about that: Since I need to pack and I will be away most of the day tomorrow, I'm not sure if I will be able to post any more parts after this one. I am going to try my best to post something before I leave, but I can't promise anything. And as it seems, I will not be finished with the movie-part then either, as they are not even out of the caves yet and they still have the fight with the orcs left.  
So, before I go: I created a gifset for this story on Tumblr today. The link is (hopefully) in my profile if you want to check it out :) I have used Saoirse Ronan as Clara, but if you have any other suggestion for her faceclaim, feel free to bring it in! Thanks for reading!_


	27. Escape

**Escape**

"Give it to us!" The scream cut through the darkness and Bilbo flinched, his eyes searching the thick darkness. He had to find the way out. Gollum was in such a rage, he would not hesitate in killing him as soon as he found him.

The sound of the creature's shuffling footsteps came echoing towards him and through the entrance to the cave, he could see Gollum jump past, his face grim and furious. The sane thing to do would probably have been to use the element of surprise and cut the creature down, but Bilbo, however, was not thinking of what was sane and not.

His eyes searched the small cave, as the calls of rage echoed around him, and as he heard Gollum returning, he turned to a slim crack in the wall.

Eyeing it doubtfully, Bilbo quickly hurried forward and started to press himself through. He had been doubtful about if he, with his hobbit-sized waist, would be able to get through, and it turned out that he was not going to make it.

Clutching the ring tightly in his fist, he stared down in fear on his own body. He was stuck halfway through, his left side already feeling the other side and the right still in the darkness of the little cave, hearing Gollum enter.

"It is ours!" The snarl came flying from the opening and Bilbo looked up, only to meet the creature's lamp-like eyes. The raging fire that burned inside them was worse than anything, and with new powers, he started to try and push himself through. It was only those stupid, bronze, waistcoat buttons that stopped him now.

"It is ours!" Gollum's cry was even louder now and he shuffled forward, his hands stretching hungrily after the scared hobbit. _"Soon"_, he thought to himself. "_Soon the precious will be back. Soon he, Smeagol, will enjoy that soft, fat meat of that Baggins, while he, Smeagol, wore the precious on __**his**__ finger." _A grin reached his lips, as he watched the hobbit struggle. He just had to wait.

Bilbo pushed harder and finally, as a hungry and malicious grin reached Gollum's face, he was getting somewhere.

The buttons in his waistcoat cracked and as he finally reached the other side, the sound of cloth tearing was heard and the buttons stayed with Gollum on the other side.

As Gollum's grin fell from his face and glimmering buttons flew through the air around him, Bilbo staggered backwards from the crack. His furious pushing had given him so much speed and he now felt himself falling.

The hand clutching the ring stretched out to keep him from falling on his face, and the piece of gold flew through the air, as he landed hard on his back.

The ring sailed through the air, the smooth surface glimmering in the faint light that seeped into the cave. Bilbo watched wide-eyed as it started to fall downwards once more, tumbling and sailing through the stillness towards his now outstretched hand.

And without a sound, without barely a movement from his own hand, the ring slipped onto his finger. The gold glimmered upon his hand for a moment, before it faded and the world became fuzzy and light.

The dark was exchanged for light and he watched, his eyes staring around him in chock, as the air became visible and moved around him in soft waves.

Through the dimness and light, he saw Gollum come through the crack, his eyes gleaming and his pale body looking even more fragile and skinny than before.

The blue eyes stared around him, as he jumped on the spot, snarling and spitting. He had seen the filthy little hobbit come into the cave. He had seen him and he knew it.

But as he looked around him, his eyes grew wide and all rage fell from him in just a second. Nothing was seen. He could not see Baggins. No juicy hobbit. No thief.

His brow knitted in thought, he stared around him for a moment, before realisation hit and the rage returned. The nasty hobbit had learnt of the secret. His precious little secret.

With a cry that tore through the darkness, he took a leap forward and sent a stone crashing to the floor. ""Thief!" With another leap he left the cave, determined to catch the hobbit before he reached the exit. "Baggins!"

The last cry reached Bilbo, whom stood up, his mind in shock as he started to stumble after the furious creature. The ring gleamed faintly upon his shaking hand in the faded colours around him and with his little sword drawn, he picked up the speed. He had to get out.

For how long they had all been running under the threat of the goblins, Clara had no idea of.

Every tunnel looked the same and they heard the furious growls and cries behind them around every corner.

Her legs ached and her sword weighed heavily in her hand, its blue glow ever shining strongly. Not even a flicker that showed her that the goblins were falling behind could be seen.

The dwarves and Gandalf were all far faster than her and as they reached yet another crossroad and choose a new tunnel, she slowly started to fall behind. She could run, but not in the way the dwarves could.

"It is not far now!" Gandalf's call was almost faint to her ears and as she looked up, she found that Gloin, being the last dwarf, was even further before her than she had thought.

"This will not do", she murmured to herself as she stopped short, watching the light of Gandalf's sword grow a little fainter. "I cannot fall behind. Not at the finish line." With a groan, she shoved her sword into its sheath and started running once more. The sound of the goblins' claws were unbearable in the otherwise now silent tunnel and she growled to herself. "Bloomin' goblins. Can you not just give up?"

In reply, there came a cry and turning her head, she knew that the terrible creatures had spotted her turning yet another corner.

Gloin had now completely disappeared from her view and without the light of her sword, the tunnel before her was dim.

With the goblins at her heels, she did not dare to call out and she therefore tried her best to speed up and reach the others. If they reached another crossroad and she was not with them, she was doomed.

"Wait! My precious, wait!" Gollum's terrified and desperate scream echoed through the tunnel and Bilbo watched as he jumped out from the path he had followed and into another tunnel, stained with daylight. The door and his escape was so close. So very close, but he could not reach it.

As he stood there, his sword drawn, he watched Gollum tense up and take a leap back, his small body hiding behind a rock.

The sound of voices and running footsteps came now also drifting towards Bilbo, and he watched, unable to move, how the company raced past, towards the light of day outside.

As they paced, their voices calling out to one another to hurry up and stay together, the hobbit opened his mouth, as if to call out, but nothing came. He wanted them to notice him, to see him, but he could not make a sound. It would not only alert Gollum of him, but also disturb them in their flight.

So he instead took a deep breath and watched as Gloin ran past as the last one and listened to the silence that fell once more.

Watching Gollum silently, Bilbo ran over his options in his mind. The snivelling creature before him was all that kept him from his companions and the long-wanted escape. All he had to do was to get rid of him and it would all be done. He would be out and Gollum would not be there to chase him any more. He would be free.

Just as he started to make up his mind, new footsteps came down the tunnel. Gollum stuck his head up from behind the rock and a cold light shone in his eyes as he looked towards from where the sounds came.

As the person came even closer to his hiding place, he suddenly lashed out, as a striking snake, and his bony fingers gripped an unsuspecting Clara.

"Let me go you little..." Her angry words was quickly cut off, as Gollum pulled her to the ground and his hands pulled her into the passage he had come from.

"We wants the precious", he growled, his hands coming up to Clara's neck. "Bagginses took it. Walshes will do, yes my precious. The human will help us find that nasty little hobbit. Gollum, Gollum." He gurgled and the girl squirmed under his grip, her hand looking for the hilt of her sword. She was so close to escape. The terrible little creature was not going to stop her from getting out.

But Clara's sword never even got out of its sheath.

For Gollum suddenly felt a cold, sharp point against his neck and he leaped backwards, leaving Clara in her try to regain her breath.

Bilbo had made up his mind and his little sword was now resting upon the thin neck of Gollum. He had been prepared to kill before, knowing that he did not have any other option, but as the creature had threatened his friend, he had had enough.

His hand shook as he drew the tip back, lifting the sword to strike. He had never done anything like it before in his life. He had never caused anyone harm. None but an unsuspecting goose, anyway.

Gollum, feeling the tip release its terrible hold upon him, turned his head, his eyes searching the empty passage behind him. Someone was there. Someone was wearing his precious and he did not like it.

His eyes travelled upwards and, unknowingly, he met the gaze of Bilbo. His sadness stung the hobbit, his thoughts travelling to the conversation he had held so many days ago with Gandalf by the troll-cave.

And directly, he knew that he could not kill Gollum. It would not be right. The creature did not deserve it, no matter what he had done.

His sword rested at the thin throat once more, as the creature by his feet moved forward carefully, but the sadness that filled the big, blue eyes caused him soon to lower it. He could not do it.

With a deep sigh, he took a few steps backwards and clenched the hilt of the sword in his fist. He had to figure out another way to get out.

Clara, watching the turn of events in confusion, was the first to hear the growl that suddenly emerged from Gollum's throat. Something else than just her and him was there and Gollum knew of it.

Scrambling to her feet, her throat aching and sore, she watched as an invisible force suddenly pushed the creature downwards, cutting off his growling and pressing him flat to the ground. The sound of running feet passed her by and in the light from the door, she could see a vague shadow. A shadow of a hobbit.

It took a few seconds for her to grip it, before she took the deepest breath she could manage and ran after the fleeing shadow. If it was Bilbo that, somehow, had turned invisible, he was her last chance to get out and back to the others.

To the sound of Gollum's terrible, raging scream, she met the light of the warm sun for the first time in three days.

"Baggins! Thief! Curse it and crush it, we hates it forever!"

_Author's note: All right, so I'm back home again! :) And I have finished two parts in one night *pats back*. Here is the first, with the last of their escape from the goblins (And Gollum). It's probably a bit messy and I apologize for that, but I hope that it will still do. The next, with their reunion, will be up sometime tomorrow. Both of them are quite short and messy, but I am currently working on the end of the movie-part of this one, the on-coming book-parts and a LOTR fanfic that will come up sometime soon, depending on how fast I write and where my interest lies for the time being.  
Anyway, I have missed you all heaps and I really hope you will have something to say about this. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad or if it's just a little "welcome back"/"yuck, you're back"- message. I love them all. Thank you for reading! :)_


	28. Rough reunion

**Rough reunion**

"Five, six, seven, eight. Bifur, Bofur, that is ten. Fili, Kili, that is twelve. And Bombur. That makes thirteen." Gandalf took a deep breath as he studied the surrounding dwarves. Something was missing. Or rather someone. "Where is Bilbo?" His question caused the others to look around them in surprise. "Where is our hobbit?" He turned and frowned. "Where is our hobbit?" He counted the surrounded once more, but still no hobbit could be seen. Neither any Clara. "And Clara? Where has she got to?"

"Curse the halfling. Now he is lost?" Dwalin sighed deeply, not even commenting upon the fact that the girl was missing. He had more patience with her, that was for sure.

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin frowned and leaned upon his axe. "And Clara, she was right behind me for most of the time." He sighed deeply.

"Do not blame me!" Dori pressed his lips together and glared at Gloin.

"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf sighed and leaned heavily upon his staff. He did not need missing company members right then.

"I think I saw him slip away, when they first collared us." Nori frowned, recalling the memory. "Clara was with him then, but as you know she returned to us later, and..." His sentence was cut short by Gandalf's next question.

"What happened exactly? Tell me!"

"I will tell you what happened. Master Baggins saw his chance and took it!" Thorin sighed and stepped forward, his voice harsh. "The same of Miss Clara. He has plotted with her all along. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! She has been the same. We will not be seeing our hobbit, nor human, again. They are long gone."

He looked harshly upon Gandalf, awaiting a confirmation of his words.

And he also got one. But not from the wizard, but from the spoken of.

For at that moment, Clara crashed through the bushes and into the glade they had taken cover in, and Bilbo stepped out from behind a tree, his hand in his pocket and his voice calm.

"No, he is not." He looked firmly upon the others, as Clara slumped down upon a rock and leaned her face in her hands, too breathless to speak. She had not heard what they had spoken of, but she could easily guess by their relieved looks.

"Bilbo Baggins!" Gandalf laughed in relief, as he walked over to the seated girl and rested a comforting hand upon her shoulder. He had yet been the only one to notice the purple bruises that had started to appear on her neck. "I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life." Beside him, Clara looked up. A smile rested upon her lips, as she watched the hobbit with relief in her eyes. How on earth he had slipped out with her only seeing his shadow, she did not know and she honestly did not care.

Bilbo smiled, patting Balin's shoulder as he once more joined the group. He was glad to be back.

"Bilbo, we had given you up!" Kili grinned where he stood next to his brother.

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili, grinning as well, asked the question all of them thought of.

"How, indeed." Dwalin frowned, being as suspicious as Thorin beside him.

An awkward silence fell, as Bilbo laughed nervously, his hand sliding something into the pocket of his waistcoat. His mind seemed to be battling tough questions and Gandalf was therefore quick at ending the subject.

Clara noticed the glimmer of gold and her mind recalled the ring he had earlier picked up. Could all this have something to do with it? She frowned and studied the hobbit carefully, while Gandalf spoke.

"What does it matter? He is back!" He smiled widely and shot Clara a quick look. "And so is our Clara. These are happy times."

"It matters!" Thorin looked harshly at Bilbo. "I want to know. Why did you come back?" He shot Clara a quick look. "Both of you?"

The girl rose and walked over to the hobbit. Thorin was yet again attacking the two of them and she knew they could do it together.

"Look, I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you are right, I often think of Bag End." Bilbo sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, before continuing. "I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden. See, that is where I belong. That is home." He met Thorin's gaze firmly. "And that is why I came back, cause you do not have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can." He nodded slowly, earning thankful glances from the gathered dwarves. They had never thought Bilbo Baggins would turn out the way he had.

"I will do the same. I will help you get your home back, even though I barely know anything about my own or how I will come back there again. I wanted to leave, for I knew my presence was not wanted and if you bid me to go now, Master Oakenshield, then I would. I will not go any further on this journey if you do not want me in you company. But if you allow me to stay, then I will fight 'til the death to help you regain Erebor. For that is what I signed that contract for." Clara watched Thorin, a serious smile upon her lips, her hands on her hips. He was high and mighty and could kill her for her words, but she knew he had to know her terms.

Thorin watched the two of them for a moment, before he huffed to himself and turned away, walking of to get some rest.

"And with that solved, can we please get something to eat?" Nori furrowed his brow and watched the others, his hands clutching his stomach. "I am starving."

"So are we, Nori", replied Dori and pushed his brother in the side. "But our packs are gone. We have nothing left."

The dwarves frowned, as they realised that Dori's words were true. They had no food. No water.

"Let us take some rest and then continue. I am sure we will find something." Gandalf thumped his staff in the ground and then sat down, his hand pulling out his pipe.

The dwarves were quick at following his lead and soon silence fell as the smoke of the pipes started to rose towards the sky.

Clara sighed wearily and once more slumped down on her rock. She pulled her quiver from her shoulders and loosened her sword from her belt. She was tired of all this. She just wanted to sleep.

Yawning, she leaned her chin in her hand and watched as the others started talking in hushed voices. They were all battered and bruised, some with blood on their clothes and cuts showing on their skin. None of them were fit to travel anywhere, no matter how much they needed to get away from the mountains and find food.

Her eyes came to land upon Kili and Fili, whom were seated with Ori, Nori and Dori on the ground. The brothers seemed to be the merriest in the company and they spoke happily to one another as they cleaned their weapons.

As Kili suddenly looked up and his eyes met hers, she did not look away, as she usually did. Instead, she held his gaze firmly. She had been stupid, back in Rivendell, when she had turned him down, and she had finally gotten that into her thick head.

The dwarf was the one to break the eye contact and she took a deep breath as she turned her eyes downwards. She was not going to expect him to forgive her for it anyway, so there were no use in trying.

"Can I sit down?"

Clara had been sitting, making the most out of the rest, and she had not actually had any company until now. She had spoken a bit with Bilbo, but as Kili now sat down next to her without waiting for a reply, the hobbit rose and left her for Balin. She shot him a tired look. She did not want to be alone with Kili. Not then.

"Of course. The ground is free." She did not let her thoughts show and instead shot him a nervous smile, which he replied hesitantly.

"Good." His word brought a heavy silence and they both sat there for a moment, staring at nothing and everything.

Not until Clara spat something out, that is.

"I am sorry." From where the courage came, she did not know, and she did not dare to look up. Had she not decided not to speak of it mere minutes before? "I am sorry for what I did to you in Rivendell. I am sorry if I caused you any pain and..." She cut herself off to take a deep breath, her breathing still painful after Gollum's fingers. "And I did not mean to hurt you." The last words where murmured, but Kili heard them still.

"There is nothing to apologise for", he said slowly, his hand coming up to rest on her shoulder. "I understand if you do not like me the way I did like you back then. I am the one to apologise for making rushed assumptions and not acting the way I should towards you." He sighed and frowned. "I never should have done that, neither kept on trying like I did when we guarded together." His eyes rose to the small braids in her hair. That night had once more woken all those feelings inside him and he knew it had all been a stupid game. "I promise I will not try anything again. It is all behind us now."

"Oh." Clara bit her lip and ran her hands over her sword, resting between them. "Then I suppose..." She stopped and rose her eyes carefully to meet his gaze for a moment. Of course he had gotten over it. Of course he had. And she had to do the same. "I suppose we can call it something that is finished then."

He nodded slowly, his mind racing and screaming at him to take it all back. Why was he denying everything?

"I suppose we can." They studied each other, both not knowing that the other thought with regret upon what they were doing. None of them wanted it to end this way, without even a try, but both thought that this was the choice of the other. And neither of them wanted to ask for the truth.

"Come here, Clara." Gandalf's call caused the girl to stir and she gripped her weapons, relieved to leave Kili and the awkward situation.

She shot the dark-haired dwarf a quick look, her eyes full of confusion and pretty much any other emotion, and then walked over to the wizard and sat down next to him.

"Was there anything you wanted?" She met the cheerful eyes of the old man and smiled softly.

"Those marks on your neck", came the reply, slowly, as the wizard was puffing on his pipe while he spoke. "Where did you get them?" He studied her curiously and she quickly realised he had tried to get a reply out of Bilbo too.

"I... um." She bit her lip nervously and shot Bilbo a questioning look. What had he told the wizard of his adventure in the caves?

As the hobbit shook his head slowly, his eyes showing her that he had told nothing to the wizard, she nodded thoughtfully and leaned her chin in her hands.

"Well?" Gandalf had been well aware of the exchange between the two companions of his and he knitted his brow in thought as he studied them intently. They knew something that they were reluctant to tell.

"One of the goblins gripped me and tried to strangle me", murmured the girl, her eyes down turned as her fingers played with the arrows in her quiver. "I succeeded with pushing it off and then I just ran for it." She shrugged her shoulders and pulled an arrow out, studying the smooth feather on the top absent-mindedly.

Realising he was not going to get anything else out of the girl and he sucked the end of his pipe grumpily. He had too much on his plate.

"I am glad you are out safe and sound." He smiled, before he put his hat back on. They had to get moving again before night came.

"What was that?" Clara's question startled the entire company and they looked at her in confusion where she stood, her sheathed sword in hand. "I thought I heard something." She nodded up the slope and frowned, obviously listening for something. And she soon got it.

The howling of wargs suddenly echoed around them. From the mountains above, came the harsh cries of orcs and the hard pounding of warg-paws.

Clara gasped for breath as her eyes spotted the moving figures far above them. "Orcs!" Her sheathed sword soon was strapped to her waist again and she looked at the others in horror. "Orcs! They are coming!"

The company got on their feet in a hurry at her words, all of them strapping their weapons back on and looking up at the darkening sky in horror. They had forgotten the enemy for a moment too long.

"Out of the frying pan", sighed Thorin as his eyes searched for an escape route among the darkening landscape.

"And into the fire", finished Gandalf and gripped his staff tightly. "Run!" He urged them forward, down the slope cowered in tall pine trees. "Run!"

_Author's note: Okay, so yet another part :) I know that the last one was very crappy and I apologise for it, at the same time as I apologise for this one. I have had too long of a break from writing, haha. I might probably come back and edit them both a little later.  
Anyway, now it's not far left until the end of the movie-part. I am honestly a bit nervous for how the rest will work out. I have a few ideas, and a few points that have to be in the book-part, but otherwise I am on my own and that's a bit scary.  
I am not totally sure about how many parts there are left until it's time for my own, but I guess maybe two or three? We will have to see!  
Okay, so I will shut up now. Please tell me if there's anything you want to see more of in the oncoming parts or if you have anything else to comment on. See you soon!_


	29. Azog attacks

**Azog attacks**

He did not have to tell them a third time, for through the trees they darted, their feet running ever faster as the sloping mountainside brought them speed.

"Come on!" Through the trees, Clara could see the dark shapes of the wargs and her heart was beating furiously in her chest as she called out to her friends.

That was when the ground suddenly ended. Before their feet in the darkness, the ground fell down into a great valley. There was no way out, and they were quick at realising it as the first wargs were among them within seconds.

Bilbo had not been expecting to do anything, but as a warg jumped growling in his direction and his little sword found its way to his hands, he knew that he had to. The rest of the company was already occupied with others.

The warg growled and bared his sharp teeth, the white surface glowing in the light of the moon above them.

The hobbit held his sword forward and as the warg charged, he felt how it penetrated into the head of the grey creature.

His eyes widened by the shock and he stared as the warg tipped to the side, his sword leaving his hands where it sat, deep inside the giant head.

"Oh no, you're not." Meanwhile, Clara had problems with another warg. The creature had tried to bite into her arm as she had reached for her bow and she now shoved it away with all her power, before fitting an arrow to the bow. "I am no chew toy, my dear fellow." The warg growled once again, but the sound soon ceased, as the arrow hit it in the side. "Do _not _mess with me, buddy." Her hand reached out and with a harsh tug, she pulled the arrow out and put it back into her quiver. Her arrows was slowly running out and she knew she was going to need every single one of them before the night ended.

"Up into the trees, all of you!" Gandalf had now realised how hopeless their situation was and had found their only chance. "Come on, climb!" Forcefully, he pushed Clara towards one of the trees and climbed after her as quickly as his old body let him.

His eyes scanned the ground and watched as the dwarves climbed up into his tree and two of those standing close by. They were the closest to the edge of the cliff and he knew that they had to get help to get out of there alive. "Bilbo, climb!"

He had noticed the hobbit, struggling to pull his sword out of the warg he had killed and the sight of the orcs and wargs closing in on the little fellow, worried him.

"Bilbo, come on!" Clara sat on a branch above him, one of her hands clasping her bow and the other the tree itself. He had heard of her scared of heights by now and he saw the fear that shone through her eyes as she looked down on the ground so far bellow.

"They are coming!" Also Thorin shouted a warning to the hobbit and finally, the sword loosed from the head of the warg and slipped into his hands.

Staring up the slope for a moment, Bilbo swallowed hard and sheathed his sword, before he clambered up into the nearest tree.

They were all in safety just at the right time. For at the very same moment Bilbo came to safety, the wargs and orcs poured in.

The massive bests, with their foul friends upon their backs, surrounded the trees and their eyes gleamed in the moonlight as they stared up at the company and laughed harshly at their fate.

They knew the dwarves were doomed. None was to save them now.

And suddenly everything fell quiet once more. The wargs ceased their growling and the orcs watched obediently as their massive leader came forth. A pale orc, gleaming coldly in the moonlight, astride the biggest warg of them all, white as the snow upon the mountains.

Clara had already guessed his name, before Thorin breathed it in shock.

"Azog?" The great dwarf lord was seated in the tree next to her, but the girl could see the fear and disbelief in his eyes. The fear, she knew, was different from her own, for his was a fear strengthened by anger and rage, while hers was a weakening fear that could send her falling down at any second.

The pale orc smirked as his ears caught the faint whisper and he leaned low over his mount, his maze streaking over the thick fur.

"Nuzdigid? Nuzdi gast? Ganzilig-i unarug obod nauzdanish, Torin undag Train-ob." The foul voice of the orc came drifting up towards the company, perched high in the trees as a flock of birds. The language, being the Black Speech of Mordor, was something Clara could not understand, but by the look on Thorin and Gandalf's faces, she knew they did.

"It cannot be." Thorin's voice choked and he blinked tears away, as he watched the orc, seeming almost weak and powerless.

"Kod, Toragid biriz." Azog now turned to his companions as he spoke and he pointed at Thorin maliciously. "Worori-da!" At his command, the wargs lunched forward towards the trees, their paws hitting the trunks as they tried to reach the company. Their sharp teeth tore branches from their places and the trees shook violently, causing the company to hold on to everything the could.

Clara felt her head swim and she heard as if far away how Azog called out again and saw how the wargs begun their attack even more violently.

The tree next to hers suddenly gave way and it crashed into hers with a rain of pine needles. The force caused hers to tip as well and she had no other choice but to follow the lead of the others and jump.

And that was how the company of thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, a wizard and a terrified girl suddenly found themselves on the edge of the cliff, all in one tree, staring down the fall they were about to get.

The tree shook and swayed under the new weight, but it did not give way, to the great relief of its new inhabitants.

Gandalf had already used one of his cards and he knew it could take many minutes before before it showed any result.

So with Azog laughing harshly bellow them, he searched the branches around him for something, anything that could help them. And he soon found it.

His hand lashed out and he gripped a big pine cone from its place. It was dry and solid in his hands and he lifted his staff and touched it lightly.

As he blew on it, flames lapped about his fingers and the pine cone was soon caught on fire. Bringing his arm back, he sent the fiery piece flying through the air, scattering the wargs as it set the dry grass on fire.

The company was quick at getting the plan, and as Gandalf lit two more, they were quick at gathering pine cones from the surrounding branches.

"Fili!" The wizard called out and the young dwarf stretched his hands out to catch one of the fiery pieces. The heat was worse than he had thought and he juggled it carefully in his hands for a moment, as Bilbo lit another pine cone upon it to pass the fire on.

Soon, the air was full of burning missiles. They set the grass on fire and scattered the howling wargs, much to Azog's dismay. He had not counted with this kind of resistance.

"Here, give me some fire." Clara, pale by the height, stretched one of her arrows forward and Kili was quick at obeying where he was perched next to her. None of them exchanged any looks, as the girl fitted the now burning arrow to her string and sent it into the side of one of the leading wargs. The warg howled by the pain and his dry, grey fur was soon ablaze as he tried to roll on the ground. His comrades howled in protest, as he tried to get to them for help, but only spread the fire further.

Soon three wargs were all ablaze and Clara pushed her bow into her quiver with a satisfied smirk.

"Good job." Kili shot her a grin and nodded approvingly. His voice caused her to turn and for a moment, she forgot the height and the foes bellow.

For in the light of the fire, his eyes were glimmering beautifully.

But the tree was soon to extinguish their cheers. For it was old and the roots not deeply rooted. The new weight upon it had finally been too much and it started to tip, out over the valley far bellow.

With cries of fear, the dwarves gripped the branches tightly and stared at each other in horror as the tree suddenly stopped its fall, hanging horizontally from the very edge of the cliff.

If Clara had been scared before, fear now gripped her even more violently. Her arms was wrapped tightly about the harsh bark of a thick branch and silent tears of fear rolled down her cheeks.

Somewhere further out, she heard the terrified scream of Ori's and in the corner of her eye, she caught the young dwarf gripping the legs of Dori tightly. His hands slipped as he clung to his older brother and his eyes stared down towards the ground so far bellow in fright.

"Master Gandalf!" Dori let out a pained gasp, his hands slipping on the branch that he held and his body weighed down by Ori.

As his hands loosed their grip, Gandalf stretched down his staff and the grey-haired dwarf gripped it tightly, his eyes full of wonder over the fact that they had been so close to death.

Gandalf pulled them upwards a short bit, but the weight was too much for him and he watched, his brow knitted, how the two dwarves hung from the tip of his staff.

"Hold on, Ori!" Dori shot his brother a comforting glance, while pain soared through his muscles. He could not do this for long.

The sudden pound of feet upon the trunk of the tree, caused everyone's focus to shift. For a moment, Clara thought the wargs had started to attack their tree, but looking up she realised this was not the case.

For through the flaming fire, with moonlight in his hair, an oaken branch as shield in his hand and sword in hand, came Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain.

His eyes were sharp and filled of anger and he held them fixed upon his terrible foe.

Azog, watching his arrival with anticipation, spread his arms and he grinned widely at the dwarf. He had been waiting for this and he would not wait any longer.

With a growl, the dwarf lord raised his branch and sword and started running towards the orc and his warg. The pale orc, still grinning, leaned forward and with a giant leap, the warg charged. Its massive paw hit the chest of the dwarf and he fell to the ground, panting hard.

"No!" Clara started to pull herself up, her eyes glued to the scene before her. She knew what was about to happen and she could not allow it.

"Clara, don't." The firm arm that wrapped around her waist and kept her from moving, came as suddenly as the voice and she turned her head in shock.

"Let me go!" She hissed at Kili and struggled at his grasp, her legs kicking without result at the empty space bellow her.

"No!" His harsh voice caused her to flinch and she stopped her struggling and gripped the branch she held more tightly. She had forgotten where they were and her hands had slipped. "I will not let you go out there."

"I cannot just watch him die." Her tears were now those of anger and she struggled once more, causing the dark-haired dwarf to hug her closer to himself and struggle to keep his grasp around the branch with his other hand.

"He won't." Kili's voice was calm, but Clara could still see the fear in his eyes as he met her gaze.

Muttering disapprovingly to herself, she turned her eyes back towards the fight.

Thorin had now managed to get back on his feet and he stood before the warg and his rider, sword in hand, breathing deeply.

The orc and the warg wheeled around quickly and with another leap, the pair charged at the dwarf. The heavy maze of Azog, hit Thorin in the face and once more he fell to the ground. He groaned and blood seeped from various cuts.

"We have to help him!" Clara struggled again against Kili's grip, as both Balin and Dwalin cried out in fear over their friend, the younger of them hanging dangerously from his broken branch.

As the White Warg gripped Thorin's arm, crushing the oaken branch harshly against it, Clara shot Kili another pleading glance. She could not watch any more.

"Biriz torag khobdudol." Azog nodded towards one of the other orcs, as his mount flung the limp body of the dwarf upon the ground.

The assigned orc quickly slipped off his own mount and with his sword in hand, he shuffled towards the dwarf and placed his sword against his neck. The cold steel caused no reaction from the dwarf, much to the dismay of his friends, and the orc raised his sword to perform the task of beheading Thorin.

That was when Bilbo charged.

With a fierce cry and a flash of cold blue, he threw himself upon the orc and sent him tumbling to the ground. His little sword moved swiftly and willingly in his hands, as he fought the foe and the glimmering steel was soon flecked by the dark blood of the dying orc.

Azog snarled in anger and muttered something to his companions in his Black Speech. The hobbit angered him and the blue blade hurt his eyes.

As Kili saw the eyes of his uncle flicker shut, he made up his mind. His arm released its grip around Clara's waist and he swung himself up on the trunk of the tree.

"Come on then." He stretched his hands down and helped the girl up, before drawing his sword and charging. His uncle was not going to die. Not if he had a say in it.

_Author's note: Okay, so another part is done :) I have been spending most of the evening writing it and I hope it's not too bad. There will probably be one or two more parts of the movie-part more, until I will start with the book. So it's not long now! :)_

_Nuzdigid? Nuzdi gast? Ganzilig-i unarug obod nauzdanish, Torin undag Train-ob. - Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain._

_Kod, Toragid biriz. Worori-da! - That one is mine. Kill the others!_

_Biriz torag khobdudol. - Bring me the Dwarf's head._


	30. Soaring saviours

**Soaring saviours**

Bilbo rose from the dead orc and with a fierce growl, he placed himself between the pack and Thorin. His sword was pointed towards his foes and his heart a rapidly beating hammer in his chest. He would not give up until death claimed him.

Azog's companions started to move towards him and he waved his sword, his eyes showing the terrible fear he felt.

His eyes scanned the surroundings and to his big surprise, his eyes suddenly found Fili, Kili, Dwalin and Clara, their crouched forms coming from within the branches of the tree, as they crept forward towards the pack.

With sudden cries, the group launched and their swords and axes struck the wargs and orcs by surprise.

Bilbo was quick at joining in, and he pushed a warg aside with his sword as he fought his way towards Azog and his mount. The pale orc smirked as he saw the little hobbit and with a harsh cry, his mount lashed out. The massive head hit Bilbo in the stomach and he flew backwards, immediately surrounded by the pack.

Somewhere around him, his friends had come to the same faith, and they all breathed heavily as they watched their surrounding enemies. There was no way out. There was no help to get and there was no way out.

Clara weighed her sword in her hands, her eyes following Azog upon his White Warg, as they moved towards Bilbo on the ground. The big maze was held high and she knew Bilbo had moments before it was to crush his little body.

"Oh no you don't!" She cried out towards the pale orc and with a swing of her sword, she brought the orc blocking her path to the ground and headed towards the massive foe.

Azog had heard her voice and he now turned his head, his eyes showing just a flicker of surprise. He had known the company had brought a human, but that it was a woman, he had had no idea of.

"Glob", he cried, as the young woman closed in on him and he raised his maze once more. "Glob búbhost!" In a sweeping motion, he brought his maze down and knocked the young woman to the ground. Her eyes widened in pain as the maze dug into her stomach and her limp body fell to the ground, her hands still clutching her sword tightly.

The great orc snorted, before he turned his eyes back to the little hobbit. Their eyes met and he sneered. This was going to be most enjoyable.

That was when Dori finally lost his grip around Gandalf's staff.

With a frightened scream, Dori and his brother tumbled downwards, towards the hard ground bellow. Their screams cut through the crackling of the fire and their companions turned in horror to watch them fall.

But before they had fallen long, a great, dark shadow soared through the air and caught the flailing dwarves upon its back. A piercing cry echoed through the night and within seconds, the sky was full of great eagles.

The eagles had been summoned by Gandalf, whom knew his tricks well, and they had arrived right on time.

They were led by the Lord of the Eagles and their race was known not to be a kind one. Their help only came to those whom they counted as their allies.

They were known to hate the orcs and with their great talons, they now flung the Warg Riders and their mounts from the cliff and out into the night.

Trees were uprooted and the fire blown to life, as they crushed down upon their enemies. They were determined to do as much damage as they could without losing any of their flock members.

Down they swooped, their talons now also picking up the company of Thorin's. They flung the terrified dwarves through the air and caught them skilfully upon their backs, before they all set off into the starlit night.

One great eagle took Thorin carefully in his talons and the limp body of the dwarf lord hung there like a doll.

The other members watched him in horror, as they to the angry cries of the orcs flew away into the night. What had happened to their great leader?

Clara and Bilbo had both been picked up and flung onto the back of the same eagle and here they now where, far up into the air.

Clara was still rather absent from her blow and Bilbo mostly held on to her to keep her from falling off as she slowly started to wake to life. She barely seemed to notice the height, as her glazed eyes followed the night that swept by around them and the dawn that came after a few hours. The landscape changed from rolling hills and forests, to grassy plains and then back to high mountains.

The sun had just started to climb the sky even more determined than before, when they reached their final destination.

In a valley, opening up to far-off plains, lay a great cliff. The top was flat, as if a giant hammer had been struck upon it, and a set of stairs led from the top down to a winding path.

It was here the eagles let them off.

First came the eagle bearing Thorin. With a gentle motion, it placed the dwarf on the top of the cliff and then lifted, without crushing him with his big feet.

Gandalf was next and he hastily slipped off the back of the biggest eagle, the Lord of them all. He looked worriedly at the dwarf, as he quickly started towards him.

"Thorin!" With a sweeping motion, he bent low over the limp body and studied the still face. "Thorin." Around him, the others had slipped off their own eagles and with worried eyes, they watched as the wizard placed his hand over the face of their leader and started to murmur.

With a sudden gasp, Thorin opened his eyes and Gandalf quickly stepped back, smiling in relief.

"The halfling?" The voice of their great lord was faint and he struggled to get up.

"It is all right. Bilbo is here. He is quite safe." Gandalf watched as Dwalin and Kili helped Thorin up, and Bilbo watched with worried eyes from where he stood.

Shrugging the hands of his friends off, Thorin turned his eyes towards the hobbit. Cuts covered his face and he walked heavily as he started towards where Bilbo and Clara stood.

"You!" His eyes was now once more firm and strong and he eyed the hobbit harshly. "What were you doing? You nearly got yourself killed!" The dwarf stepped close, his dark eyes scanning the little hobbit before him.

Clara opened her mouth to protest, her hands clutching her stomach, but Thorin gave her no chance, as he continued once more. "Did I not say you would be a burden? That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" The dark eyes now eyed both the girl and the hobbit and Clara quickly realised that his words were directed also to her.

The face of the hobbit had fallen and he stared down onto the ground in sadness and shame, his mind repeating the words he had just heard. He had known all of this already and Thorin only made everything worse for him by bringing it up once more.

Clara saw the sadness that came over the hobbit and her hand came up to rest upon his back, as she eyed the dwarf before them with disappointment. What did Thorin think he was playing at?

"I have never been so wrong in my entire life." The sudden words caused the two to look up in surprise to see a comforting smile appear on Thorin's lips. He stepped forward and with a quick motion, he embraced Bilbo tightly. "I am sorry I doubted you."

The surprise in Bilbo's eyes quickly died out and he returned the embrace carefully, before the two stepped back.

"No, I would have doubted me too. I am not a hero or a warrior." The hobbit smiled to himself and looked up. "Not even a burglar." His words gained cheers from the others and he laughed quietly.

"I am sorry for being harsh on you, Clara." Thorin stepped towards the girl and smiled hesitantly.

"Do not worry about it. I suppose we are just equally stubborn." The girl smiled back and then embraced the dwarf, much to his surprise. "Thank you for letting me come along." Her murmur was only for his ears and he patted her back in understanding.

"Thank you for coming along and bringing a smile to the face of my nephew." Thorin smiled and cocked his head in the direction of Kili. "He needs someone like you."

At his words, Clara bit her lip, her arms returning to clutching her stomach. It hurt after the blow from the maze, but that was nothing she was about to reveal.

"I suppose", she murmured, but her words was unheard by Thorin, as he suddenly stepped by her and towards the tip of the cliff, his eyes having found something by the horizon.

"Is that what I think it is?" At Bilbo's words, the company turned, their eyes following Thorin's.

"Erebor. The Lonely Mountain. The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth." Gandalf smiled, as the company gathered at the tip of the cliff, all gazing towards the solitary mountain in the distance.

"Our home." Thorin smiled, straightening his back proudly. He could see his home again and it brought him hope. They would soon stand upon those very slopes again. They were going to make it to the end.

A sudden chirp of a small bird, brought their eyes up and they followed the little creature as it made its way towards the peak in the distance.

"A raven!" Oin gasped in surprise and stared at the little bird, as the sound of others joined its song. "The birds are returning to the Mountain!" At this, the other dwarves smiled brightly and followed the birds as they disappeared in the distance, their small bodies caught by the red sky of dawn.

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush." Gandalf chuckled softly and shook his head, but his comment did not weaken the spirits of the dwarves.

"But we will take it as a sign. A good omen." Thorin took a deep breath in relief, his eyes never leaving his home in the distance.

"You are right. I do believe the worst is behind us." Bilbo smiled, taking a deep breath. He wanted to believe he was right. He did not need any more dangers, so this was it. No more ambushes, no more foes. This was it. Now it was just straight ahead towards the Lonely Mountain and the dragon.

Clara looked up at Bilbo's words, a smile finding its way to her lips. The hobbit were so cheerful and yet so brave. She could not have wished for a better friend to have along on this.

Looking around her on the dwarves, she realised that it was true for every single one of them. Without them and their courage, they would not be the same. The quest would not have worked without them.

As she turned her eyes to Kili, standing next to her brother beside her, her heart caught on a beat. Thorin's words returned to her and she smiled as she stepped closer to him and slid her hand into his. The look of surprise his dark eyes shot her made her smile even more and she leaned her head upon her shoulder and hugged his hand close. She knew that without him and all the others, she would not be alive. She needed them to function and the wound she carried was not even going to ruin this moment.

As Kili's eyes grew softer and he smiled back, his head leaning upon hers and his hand hugging hers back, also he realised that this was what he wanted. This was where his home was. With these people that he travelled with. He had headed out to prove his worth, to fight a war, and he had ended up gaining an even bigger family.

He exchanged a quick look with Fili and then looked towards the Mountain in the distance. Together, they were all going to make it.

_Author's note: Okay, so that was the last part of the movie-part of this story. I really hope that you have all enjoyed it this far and that you will keep on reading when I continue!  
The story will continue in a brand new story, meaning that this one will be rated as complete and there will come up a new one that will contain the rest, or at least a part of it, depending on how I decide to do it all. So make sure to either keep an eye out on my profile for the new one, or follow my user to get an email about when I publish the new one.  
I really hope that you will be staying with me and I promise I won't take too long with the next. There will all be a lot of research and planning to be done now, so I hope you will have some patience with me.  
In the meanwhile, I really hope you will review both this part and the entire story and tell me if there is anything I could improve for the next one. Thank you! You are ALL the best readers in the world and I love you!_

_Glob - Fool  
Glob búbhost - Great fool_


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